Fort Bragg veteran charged with releasing classified information to a journalist

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (CN) — A U.S. Army Special Operations veteran was indicted Wednesday on claims that she leaked classified materials to a journalist.

The U.S. government filed a criminal complaint last Friday, charging Courtney Williams with communicating and transmitting national defense information. The complaint was unsealed Wednesday, the same day she was indicted by a federal grand jury, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

Williams released classified information marked as “SECRET,” including specific tactics, techniques and procedures used by a special military unit stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to a reporter who then published the information in an article and book, FBI Special Agent Jocelyn Fox said in the affidavit in support of the complaint.

Williams worked for a special military unit in the U.S. Army from 2010 to 2016 and held a Top Secret security clearance. Several years after she departed, Williams had multiple conversations with an investigative journalist, Fox said, during which she revealed classified information, which was published online and in a book and attributed to Williams as a source.

Seth Harp, an investigative reporter and contributing editor at Rolling Stone, published a book titled “The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces" in August 2025. Williams is a source in the book, and Harp also wrote a Politico story detailing Williams’ time in Delta Force, during which she maintained billing for companies used when operatives were deployed under aliases.

The article and book — both unidentified in the criminal complaint — contained classified information, Fox said, despite Williams signing a classified nondisclosure agreement at the beginning and end of her employment at Fort Bragg. She held a Top Secret security clearance until 2015, after which she was transferred to a position that didn’t require access to classified information.

Williams exchanged around 180 text messages with the reporter between 2022 and 2025, Fox said, and spoke on the phone for over 10 hours. Williams sent the reporter documents, photographs and notes, Fox said, some of which the government believes included classified information.

The government launched an investigation after the article detailing Williams’ experience was published, and a special military unit determined it contained information classified as secret and not to be released to any foreign organizations.

The book, Fox said, which was released Aug. 12, 2025 — the same day Harp’s “Fort Bragg Cartel” book was published — included a chapter attributing information the government dubbed classified as coming from interviews with Williams.

The government says in the complaint that Williams texted the reporter the day of the release and said, “Other than a few factual errors, I would definitely have been concerned with the amount of classified information being disclosed…. it feels like an entire TTP (tactics, techniques, and procedures) was sent out in my name giving them a chance to legally persecute me.”

Williams also texted her mother, “I might actually get arrested, and I don’t even get a free copy of the book,” Fox said in the affidavit, which was based on a review of documents and information collected from search warrants. When asked why, Williams added “for disclosing classified information.”

In a public statement, Harp called Williams a courageous whistleblower who exposed gender discrimination and sexual harassment, and said former Delta Force and SEAL Team 6 operators share the same techniques and procedures that Williams discussed on podcasts and YouTube shows.

“Courtney Williams is a veteran, a mother and a patriotic American,” Harp said. “She has committed no crime. Her arrest and imprisonment is an outrage. I am confident that the DOJ’s slapdash incitement, full of misleadingly juxtaposed quotations taken out of context, will fall apart upon careful scrutiny.”

“The tradecraft, tactics and techniques used by our U.S. military are classified and should be shared only with those with proper clearances and a need to know in order to protect American lives and safeguard classified national defense information,” said Special Agent in Charge Reid Davis from the FBI Charlotte Field Office.

“When someone is accused of divulging the information they vowed to protect to a reporter for publication, it’s reckless, self-serving and damages our nation’s security,” he added.

Williams made an initial appearance Wednesday morning with her lawyer, who has yet to appear on the court docket. She is being detained by the U.S. Marshal Service before a detention hearing scheduled for Monday.

In 2018, Williams settled an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission discrimination claim with the United States Army Special Operations Command. The settlement was enough to buy a small house, she told Harp.

Follow @SKHaulenbeek Follow @shaulenbeek.bsky.social