The US Justice Department on Friday accused a government contractor of leaking national defense information to his girlfriend, who publishes a Substack newsletter.
The FBI arrested Ian Brinksman, 42, after searching his Washington home, according to a Justice Department statement.
Federal prosecutors charged Brinksman with unlawfully transmitting national defense information.
A federal public defender representing Brinksman declined to comment.
“As alleged, Brinksman reached far outside his own duties to obtain some of our Nation’s most closely held secrets and handed them to a romantic partner he knew intended to publish them,” John Eisenberg, the assistant attorney general for national security, said in the statement.
“That is not carelessness. It is a betrayal of his oath and the American people who entrusted him to fulfill his duties honorably,” Eisenberg added.
Brinksman held a top-secret security clearance while working for a US government agency and later served as a systems-integration developer for a private contractor working with the same agency, prosecutors said.
According to a sworn affidavit from an FBI agent investigating the case, Brinksman repeatedly accessed classified intelligence reports and communicated with the journalist.
The affidavit points to phone records, database-access logs, badge-swipe records, emails and other evidence.
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The affidavit identifies the journalist only as “Individual 1,” but includes excerpts from articles she published.
“A fundraising article reportedly published by Individual 1 in September 2026 stated ‘over the past year [Individual 1 has] published reporting based on classified [relevant US government agency] assessments that I believe the public deserves to know about,’” the affidavit says.
The quote appears in a September 28 article published in the Capital & Empire online newsletter and authored by Aída Chávez.
“Over the past year, I’ve published reporting based on classified CIA assessments that I believe the public deserves to know about,” Chávez wrote. Her profile on the site says she previously worked for the Nation and other outlets before launching the newsletter.
Chávez did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Investigators allege that Individual 1 published Substack articles on at least five occasions in 2026 containing information that mirrored classified reports, including some labeled top secret.
On some of those dates, Chávez published articles citing classified reports, including reports attributed to the CIA.
A LinkedIn profile bearing Brinksman’s name says he worked for Deloitte as a manager and senior strategy security consultant. It also lists prior work as a US State Department foreign service officer during periods corresponding to those cited in the Justice Department statement.
Deloitte did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The State Department said it needed more time before responding.