A U.S. government contractor with top-secret security clearance was arrested Friday, accused of leaking classified national defense information to a journalist who published it on Substack, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced.
Ian A. Brinksman, 42, of Washington, D.C., was charged with unlawfully transmitting national defense information following a search of his residence, according to the DOJ.
“The details alleged in this affidavit reflect the behavior of a government contractor who exempted himself from a federal law governing the protection of classified information,” U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said.
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Brinksman began working for a U.S. government agency in 2020 before becoming a systems integration developer for a contractor to the same agency in September 2022. He held a top-secret security clearance with access to Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI), according to the criminal complaint.
The DOJ said Brinksman had an ongoing personal relationship with an individual who operates a Substack publication. The affidavit describes the journalist's independent publication as focused on “reporting on Congress, War, and political economy.”
In a fundraising article published last month, the journalist purportedly said she had published reporting based on classified assessments from the government agency that she believed the public “deserves to know about.” Her social media profile also included a post saying, “I also accept leaks,” according to the affidavit.
Investigators also cited a November 2025 email in which Brinksman allegedly told a friend he was helping a journalist he was dating launch an independent publication focused on foreign policy.
According to the affidavit, phone records showed more than 800 calls or attempted calls between Brinksman and the journalist this year.
The affidavit further describes an instance in March 2026 in which Brinksman and the journalist collaborated on edits to an article about geopolitical issues in the Middle East. Investigators said they had not identified classified information in that article.
The journalist was not identified by name in the criminal complaint and is referred to as “Individual 1.”
“As alleged, Brinksman reached far outside his own duties to obtain some of our Nation’s most closely held secrets and handed them to a romantic partner he knew intended to publish them,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said in a statement.
FBI Director Kash Patel said protecting classified information was a counterintelligence priority, while CIA Director John Ratcliffe said the arrest followed a referral from the agency.
“The unauthorized release of classified material poses grave risks to our national security, intelligence sources, ongoing operations, and our officers,” Ratcliffe said.
The FBI's Chicago Field Office is investigating the case with assistance from its Washington Field Office, with prosecutors from the Justice Department's National Security Division and U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Newsweek reached out to the DOJ late Friday night via email.
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