James Thomas Ashbacher, a North Carolina resident and former U.S. government contractor, was arrested by the FBI this week in connection with a classified information leak. An unsealed indictment charged him with unlawfully transmitting and retaining national defense information and with theft of government property.
According to the Department of Justice, Ashbacher worked from approximately 2021 through March 19, 2024, for a private company that provided security and emergency management services at the U.S. Army Special Operations Command facility at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The position required a Top Secret security clearance with Sensitive Compartmented Information access.
Federal prosecutors allege that Ashbacher photographed and removed without authorization videos and photographs containing images of classified military operations, which were classified as SECRET. He transmitted the materials to a social media site. Other users later re-posted the classified materials to a second social media site.
In a private message on the first platform on or about February 2, 2024, Ashbacher asked another user to remove mentions of certain information and to “take ‘em down, tuck them away, and repost them in a year or two when my contract ends lol.” He further stated, “Just trying to save my ass …. It is what it is ….” and noted that he knew “a bunch of dudes probs saved everything but trying to do some damage control lol If not, it’s all good bro, I understand. It was fun while it lasted ….”
He deactivated the account the following day.
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Former Fort Bragg contractor charged with leaking military secrets https://t.co/jpOficjcoz
— Task & Purpose (@TaskandPurpose) October 31, 2026
A court-authorized search of Ashbacher’s residence on April 30, 2025, recovered a document that appeared to be a classified military award write-up containing SECRET//NOFORN markings and additional national defense information. Agents also recovered a night vision goggle system specific to a military unit within Army Special Operations Command that had been reported missing.
Court records indicate the goggles were valued at approximately $40,000 and that Ashbacher admitted taking them.
The indictment describes the materials as including nine or ten videos. Six revealed unit-specific tactics, techniques, procedures, and call signs associated with the organizational structure of a specialized military unit. One contained information about specialized Alternative Compensatory Control Measures programs, while others presented a risk that foreign adversaries could develop methods to defeat or counter the demonstrated capabilities.
Prosecutors state that Ashbacher “knew that the stolen Classified Materials contained classified information that related to the national defense” and that disclosure “could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nation.”
The FBI Charlotte Field Office is investigating the case with substantial assistance from the U.S. Department of the Army’s Criminal Investigative Division, according to a DOJ press release.
