An Army Veteran Faces Charges for Disclosing Classified Information
A North Carolina Army veteran is facing allegations of compromising national security by leaking classified information about an elite military unit to a journalist. The action has raised concerns over the safety of U.S. military personnel and allies, according to officials.
Courtney Williams, a 40-year-old resident of Wagram, North Carolina, is accused of breaching federal laws and nondisclosure agreements by revealing insights into her role with a special military unit stationed at Fort Bragg. “Anyone divulging information they vowed to protect to a reporter for publication is reckless, self-serving and damages our nation’s security,” stated Reid Davis, the FBI special agent in charge in North Carolina, in a Justice Department news release.
Roman Rozhavsky, an assistant director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division, emphasized the severity of the breach, noting that Williams “swore an oath to safeguard our nation’s secrets as an employee supporting a Special Military Unit of the Army, but she allegedly betrayed that oath by sharing classified information with a media outlet and putting our nation, our warfighters, and our allies at risk.”
Williams appeared in a federal court in Raleigh, charged under a provision of the Espionage Act. The case against her was unsealed recently, with the U.S. Marshals Service holding her pending forthcoming hearings. Court records do not yet list her legal representation, and a family member declined to comment on the charges.
Though the journalist and military unit remain unnamed in the filings, the timeline and specifics align with works by Seth Harp concerning Delta Force. Williams was notably featured in a 2025 Politico piece titled “My Life Became a Living Hell: One Woman’s Career in Delta Force, the Army’s Most Elite Unit,” released alongside Harp’s book, “The Fort Bragg Cartel,” which discusses allegations of misconduct.
In a statement to WRAL-TV, Harp described Williams as “a brave whistleblower and truth-teller,” criticizing the government’s actions as retaliatory. “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,” Harp’s statement read.
The FBI affidavit reveals that Williams began her role as a defense contractor in 2010, later becoming a Department of Defense employee. Her duties involved operational support within the special unit, focusing on “Tactics, Techniques and Procedures” for sensitive missions, according to Special Agent Jocelyn Fox.
Williams’ access to classified information was suspended following an internal investigation. She was debriefed and signed a nondisclosure agreement in September 2015. The government claims Williams communicated with the unnamed journalist over three years, exchanging extensive calls and messages.
The FBI’s affidavit includes text exchanges suggesting Williams’ concern over the extent of disclosed information, and a conversation with her mother about potential arrest risks over the leak, as documented by Fox.
The investigation has thus far identified multiple document batches that Williams allegedly planned to share with the journalist.
