FBI arrests North Carolina contractor accused of leaking classified information

Prosecutors say a home search found defense records and missing night-vision goggles

The FBI has arrested a former North Carolina government contractor on charges that he leaked classified national defense information on social media, federal prosecutors said.

James Thomas Ashbacher, 37, of Spring Lake, was taken into custody on charges that he shared classified material online, unlawfully stored national defense materials at his residence and stole night-vision equipment from the US Army Special Operations Command, prosecutors said.

He faces federal counts of unauthorized transmission of national defense information, unlawful retention of defense records and theft of government property, prosecutors said.

According to a press release from the Justice Department, Ashbacher “photographed and removed without authorization videos and photographs containing images of classified military operations and transmitted the materials to a social media site. The classified materials were later re-posted by other users to a second social media site.”

The statement further alleges that, in a private direct message, Ashbacher urged a social media user to take down several uploaded materials, saying he was “trying to do some damage control.”

Federal agents conducting a subsequent search of Ashbacher’s home found a classified military award nomination containing sensitive national defense information, as well as a specialized night-vision goggle system that had previously been reported missing from an Army special operations command unit.

Ashbacher worked for a contractor that provided security and emergency management services to the US Army at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, where he held a top secret clearance with sensitive compartmented information access.

The arrest came nearly two years after a federal judge sentenced a Massachusetts Air National Guard member, Jack Teixeira, to 15 years in prison for leaking highly classified military documents about Russia’s war in Ukraine. Teixeira admitted that he illegally collected those secrets and shared them with other users on Discord.

Ashbacher’s case is being investigated by the FBI’s Charlotte field office in coordination with the US Department of the Army’s criminal investigation division.