The FBI has arrested a former North Carolina government contractor for allegedly leaking classified national defense information on social media.
James Thomas Ashbacher, 37, of Spring Lake, was taken into custody after charges that he shared top-secret safety data online, unlawfully stored national defense materials at his residence and stole night-vision equipment from the US army special operations command.
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 had urged a social media user to take down several uploaded materials, explaining that he was “trying to do some damage control”.
Federal agents conducting a subsequent search of his home discovered 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 providing security and emergency management services to the US army at North Carolina’s Fort Bragg, where he held a top secret clearance with sensitive compartmented information (SCI) access.
His arrest came nearly two years after a federal judge sentenced a Massachusetts air national guard member to 15 years in prison in connection with his pleading guilty to leaking highly classified military documents about Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Jack Teixeira admitted that he illegally collected those secrets and shared them with other users on the social media platform Discord.
Ashbacher’s case is being investigated by the FBI Charlotte’s field office in coordination with the US Department of the Army’s criminal investigation division.
