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In a significant legal development, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged a former Army employee from North Carolina with leaking classified information. The individual, 40-year-old Courtney Williams, was taken into custody by the FBI on Tuesday, as outlined in a press release issued by the DOJ on Wednesday.
Williams faces an indictment from a federal grand jury for allegedly transmitting sensitive national defense information to unauthorized individuals, including a journalist. This breach of protocol highlights the severe consequences of mishandling classified material.
John A. Eisenberg, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, underscored the gravity of such breaches in a statement. “Clearance holders accept a solemn obligation to protect the classified information entrusted to them,” he emphasized. “Ensuring they uphold this duty is critical to our nation’s security. When they violate this trust, the National Security Division is committed to taking swift action to hold them accountable.”
According to court documents, Williams held a Top Secret / Sensitive Compartmented Information security clearance. She was employed by a Special Military Unit (SMU) for a six-year period beginning in 2010, a role that demanded the utmost discretion and responsibility.
The DOJ said that Williams had “a Top Secret / Sensitive Compartmented Information security clearance” and was an employee of a Special Military Unit (SMU) for six years starting in 2010, per court documents.
From 2022 to 2025, Williams, who worked at Fort Bragg, allegedly talked to a journalist on multiple occasions on the phone and by text, the DOJ said.
“During this period, Williams and the Journalist had over 10 hours of telephone calls and exchanged more than 180 messages. In one such message, the Journalist identified themselves as a journalist and stated that they sought information about the SMU in support of an upcoming article and book,” the DOJ said in its press release.
“After these communications with Williams, the Journalist published a book and article that named Williams as a source and attributed specific statements to her. Some of these statements contained classified national defense information.”