A former Army specialist is facing federal charges after being accused of leaking national defense secrets to a journalist and sharing classified data on social media.
Courtney Williams, 40, of Wagram, North Carolina, was arrested Tuesday and indicted by a federal grand jury on Wednesday for violating the Espionage Act.
Federal prosecutors claim she illegally transmitted classified military secrets to unauthorized individuals and posted sensitive information on her personal social media accounts.
Between 2010 and 2016, Williams worked for an Army Special Military Unit, holding a Top Secret and Sensitive Compartmented Information security clearance. According to the federal press release, she had access to sensitive information regarding military “tradecraft, tactics, and techniques.”
Then between 2022 and 2025, Williams and a reporter spent more than 10 hours on the phone and exchanged over 180 text messages.
Although no reporter is mentioned in the court documents, Williams is named in journalist Seth Harper’s a 2025 book titled “The Fort Bragg Cartel Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces.” Harp also mentioned her in a POLITICO Magazine story, which was published on Aug. 12 of last year.
“Courtney Williams swore an oath to safeguard our nation’s secrets as an employee supporting a Special Military Unit of the Army, but she allegedly betrayed that oath by sharing classified information with a media outlet and putting our nation, our warfighters, and our allies at risk,” Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division said in a statement.
The indictment highlights a series of messages Williams is accused of sending to the reporter on the day the story was published.
In one message, Williams wrote, “I might actually get arrested . . . for disclosing classified information.”
When another individual asked how she knew she might face legal consequences for her actions, Williams responded, “I have known my entire career,” adding that “they tell you everyday . . . 100 times a day.”
Williams stated in another message that she was “probably going to jail for life.”
Federal law enforcement officials called the unauthorized disclosures a reckless threat to American lives, military tactics and national security.
“We trust our war fighting individuals to cooperate as a team to protect our military and country,” said U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina Ellis Boyle. “We will pursue criminal charges to keep these warriors safe whenever we find leakers exalting their own feelings over the safety of the United States.”
Court documents do not list the name of Williams’ attorney, but say she was issued a federal public defender. Her next court appearance will take place Monday at 10 a.m. on the sixth floor of the Terry Sanford Federal Building in Raleigh.
The news comes shortly after President Donald Trump threatened to jail a journalist if they did reveal who leaked classified details regarding a missing U.S. airman whose fighter jet crashed in the mountains of Iran.
Trump did not specify which media organization he was threatening. However, Newsweek reported that Israeli journalist Amit Segal said he was the first reporter to break the story, though when pressed by The New York Post, he backpedaled, claiming he’s “not sure” if he was the first to write the story, then said: “I will protect my sources.”
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