A former Fort Bragg employee with top-secret clearance is accused of leaking classified military tactics to a journalist, then admitting to her mother that she could be arrested for exposing sensitive operations, according to a federal complaint.

Courtney P. Williams, 40, an Army veteran assigned to a Special Military Unit (SMU) at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, was arrested by the FBI on Tuesday and charged with unlawfully transmitting national defense information, including classified tactics used in covert missions, to an investigative reporter over a period spanning several years, federal prosecutors allege.

According to the complaint, Williams held a Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) clearance and had direct access to highly sensitive operational details, including tactics, techniques and procedures — commonly known as TTPs — used by elite military units.

Williams allegedly violated 18 U.S.C. § 793(d) the Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a news release Wednesday.

Investigators allege that between 2022 and 2025, Williams communicated extensively with a journalist, including phone calls lasting hundreds of minutes and roughly 180 text messages, while also sending documents and materials that were later published in an article and book identifying her as the source.

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Courtney Williams, 40, was formerly assigned to a Special Military Unit (SMU) at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. (AP Photo/Chris Seward, File)

FBI Director Kash Patel took to X on Wednesday after the arrest, saying the Bureau “will not tolerate” leakers of classified intel.

“Let this serve as a message to any would-be leakers: we’re working these cases, and we’re making arrests,” Patel wrote. “This FBI will not tolerate those who seek to betray our country and put Americans in harm’s way.”

The Associated Press reported that while the journalist is not named in the court filings, “dates and details match” both an article and book written by Seth Harp about the Army’s Delta Force.

An excerpt from Harp’s book, “The Fort Bragg Cartel” was published in Politico’s magazine last August under the title, “My Life Became a Living Hell: One Woman’s Career in Delta Force, the Army’s Most Elite Unit,” featuring Williams’ testimonials alleging sexual harassment while serving.

Williams, an Army veteran, held a Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) clearance. (Logan Mock-Bunting/Getty Images)

Harp released a statement to WRAL-TV about Williams, calling her a “brave whistleblower and truth-teller,” despite reported reservations she shared with the journalist after the book was published.

“Former Delta Force operators disclose `national defense information’ on podcasts and YouTube shows every day, but the government is going after Courtney for the sole reason that she exposed sexual harassment and gender discrimination in the unit. This is a vindictive act of retaliation, plain and simple,” Harp’s statement read.

The published materials, according to the government, contained classified information at the “SECRET” level with “NOFORN” restrictions, meaning it was not authorized for release to foreign nationals — raising concerns it could be accessed by U.S. adversaries.

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“Clearance holders accept a solemn obligation to protect the classified information entrusted to them,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said in a DOJ release. “That they do so is critical to the security of our Nation. When clearance holders violate that trust, the National Security Division will act swiftly to hold them accountable.”

Evidence outlined in the complaint includes messages indicating Williams mailed a thumb drive containing materials to the journalist, as well as files saved on her computer labeled “Batch 1 for Reporter” and similar titles, suggesting an organized effort to provide information.

On the day the article and book were published, Williams allegedly texted the journalist expressing concern about the scope of the disclosure, writing that she was troubled by “the amount of classified information being disclosed” and that it felt like “an entire TTP was sent out in my name.”

In a separate conversation with her mother, Williams allegedly acknowledged the legal risk more directly.

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“I might actually get arrested, and I don’t even get a free copy of the book,” she wrote, adding the legal basis as “for disclosing classified information.”

Authorities say Williams had signed multiple non-disclosure agreements during her time working with the military unit and was explicitly warned that unauthorized disclosure of classified material could violate federal law.

UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters fly over Fort Bragg, N.C. (Sgt. Steven Galimore/U.S. Army)

The complaint also notes that the leaked information could pose serious risks, including exposing military personnel to danger and compromising operations if adversaries studied the disclosed tactics.

“The tradecraft, tactics, and techniques used by the U.S. military unit in this case 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 Reid Davis, the FBI Special Agent in Charge in North Carolina.

“These are serious accusations. Anyone divulging information they vowed to protect to a reporter for publication is reckless, self-serving and damages our nation’s security.”

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Authorities say Williams had signed multiple non-disclosure agreements and was warned that releasing classified material could violate federal law.

The FBI Charlotte Field Office is investigating the case, with “valuable assistance” provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of North Carolina.

Fox News Digital reached out to Politico.

Australian authorities have arrested and charged the country’s most decorated living soldier, Ben Roberts-Smith, 47, with five war crime murders allegedly committed during the war in Afghanistan.

Roberts-Smith, a former member of the Australian Defence Force, was arrested at Sydney Airport on Tuesday. His arrest has sparked outcry from a former Australian prime minister, who argued its unfair to judge the actions of “men in mortal combat by the standards of ordinary civilian life.” X owner Elon Musk also weighed in on the arrest, calling it “insane.”

The Australian Federal Police and the Office of the Special Investigator said Roberts-Smith is being charged in connection with the killings of five unarmed Afghans in three separate incidents between 2009 and 2012. AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett alleged that Roberts-Smith either killed the unarmed Afghans himself or instructed a subordinate to kill them. If convicted, Roberts-Smith faces life imprisonment on each charge.

“It will be alleged the victims were not taking part in hostilities at the time of their alleged murder in Afghanistan,” Barrett said during a press conference. “It will be alleged the victims were detained, unarmed and were under the control of ADF members when they were killed.”

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FILE – Ben Roberts-Smith arrives at the Federal Court in Sydney on June 9, 2021. Australia’s most decorated living war veteran lodged an appeal on Tuesday, July 11, 2023, against a civil court ruling that blamed him for the unlawful killings of four Afghans. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft, File) (Rick Rycroft/AP)

The investigation into Roberts-Smith began in 2021, according to Ross Barnett, director of investigations at the Office of the Special Investigator. Roberts-Smith received the Victoria Cross after storming two enemy machine guns during his fifth tour in Afghanistan.

Barnett said at the press conference that the investigation was “under challenging circumstances,” given that some of the murders occurred well over a decade ago and investigators were unable to visit Afghanistan.

“We don’t have access to the crime scenes, we don’t have photographs, site plans, measurements, the recovery of projectiles, blood spatter analysis, all of those things we would normally get at a crime scene,” Barnett said at the press conference.

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Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith VC, MG attends a Victoria Cross and George Cross Association Reunion Service at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church on May 30, 2012 in London, England. (Max Mumby / Indigo / Getty Images)

While Australia’s current prime minister has yet to weigh in on the arrest, former Australian Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Party Tony Abbott expressed his support for Roberts-Smith on X in a lengthy post.

“If Ben Roberts-Smith transgressed, why wasn’t this picked up prior to his gallantry awards and why wasn’t any culture of brutality towards prisoners detected by his more senior officers, and dealt with quickly, rather than being allowed to fester, as has been alleged, for over a decade?” Abbott wrote.

Allegations that Roberts-Smith engaged in war crimes began circulating publicly in 2017 and 2018 in articles published by The Age, the Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times.

Roberts-Smith filed a defamation suit against the papers, which became Australia’s most expensive defamation trial, but in 2023, a Federal Court judge ruled that four of the six murder allegations brought by the papers against Roberts-Smith were legitimate.

In one of the allegations ruled to have merit by Justice Anthony Besanko, Roberts-Smith allegedly marched a handcuffed Afghan man named Ali Jan off the edge of a 10-meter cliff. He survived the fall, but Roberts-Smith and his fellow soldiers walked down a footpath to meet him. Roberts-Smith then ordered a subordinate, known as Person 11 in court, to shoot him.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – JUNE 07: Ben Roberts-Smith departs the Federal Court of Australia in Sydney on June 07, 2021 in Sydney, Australia. Ben Roberts-Smith is suing three Fairfax newspapers for defamation over reports he committed war crimes while serving in the Australian Special Air Services in Afghanistan. Ben Roberts-Smith is Australia’s most decorated living soldier and a Victoria Cross recipient. (Sam Mooy / Getty Images)

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The High Court dismissed Roberts-Smith’s appeal of the ruling in September 2025.

The criminal charges against Roberts-Smith stem from a joint effort by OSI and AFP. The two Australian agencies have conducted 53 investigations into ADF members tied to war crime allegations in Afghanistan. Ten of the investigations remain ongoing.