Former US Special Operations Command employee arrested in classified leak case: FBI

Diyar Guldogan and Asiye Latife Yilmaz

The FBI has arrested a former US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) employee accused of transmitting classified information to a member of the media, FBI Director Kash Patel said Wednesday.

“FBI and our partners have arrested a former SOCOM employee, who supported our top-level military warfighters, for allegedly transmitting classified information to a member of the media,” Patel said on US social media company X.

Patel credited the investigation to agents in the FBI’s Charlotte field office and the bureau’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division, working alongside the US Department of Justice.

Federal prosecutors identified the suspect as Courtney Williams of Wagram, North Carolina, who is accused of leaking classified information between 2022 and 2024 about a covert US military unit, according to court documents unsealed Wednesday.

Williams worked for the army between 2010 and 2016, including service connected to a special military unit known as Delta Force, and held a top-secret security clearance before her access was suspended following an internal investigation, the documents said.

She is charged with one count of illegally communicating national defense information, an offense that carries a potential prison sentence of up to 10 years if convicted.

According to an FBI affidavit, Williams allegedly shared sensitive materials, including documents, photographs, and notes, with a reporter through emails and a removable hard drive, with some of the information later published in a news article and a book.

Investigators said the published material contained information deemed classified at the secret level by officials overseeing the unit.

Court records show Williams was arrested on Tuesday and ordered to be temporarily detained pending a preliminary hearing scheduled for April 13.

“Let this serve as a message to any would-be leakers: we’re working these cases, and we’re making arrests. This FBI will not tolerate those who seek to betray our country and put Americans in harm’s way,” FBI Director Patel said.