Former Fort Bragg contractor charged with leaking military secrets

A former Fort Bragg contractor was arrested Tuesday and charged with leaking national defense information online. The Department of Justice said that Army contractor James Thomas Ashbacher, 37, He was charged with theft of government property and unlawfully transmitting and retaining national defense information. 

Prosecutors alleged that Ashbacher photographed or took photos and videos showing military operations and kept some of write ups inside his home.   

Starting in 2021, Ashbacher was employed by a private security and emergency management company which was contracted to work at an Army Special Operations Command installation in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. While employed there, he had Top Secret security clearance and Sensitive Compartmented Information access. The Army base is home to not only Army Special Operations Command but XVIII Airborne Corps and Army Western Hemisphere Command. 

According to the Department of Justice, “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 Justice Department’s release also notes that after that, Ashbacher asked a different social media user to take down some of what had been re-shared, saying that he was “trying to do some damage control.”

Authorities searched Ashbacher’s home and found military award information. They also found night vision goggles that matched ones reported missing by an Army Special Operations Command unit.

The FBI is investigating the case, along with the Army Criminal Investigative Division. 

Leaks of military information online can carry lengthy prison sentences. In 2023, an Air National Guard airman was arrested after leaking classified military information, including reports about the Russian war in Ukraine, online. The leaks gained more attention online after they were re-shared to other platforms. Jack Teixeira was sentenced in late 2024 to 15 years in prison.

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