Government contractor arrested for allegedly leaking national defense information

Federal authorities arrested a government contractor and charged him with leaking classified national defense information, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Friday.

FBI investigators have accused 42-year-old Ian Brinksman, an employee of a third-party company which provided services to a government agency, of leaking national defense information to his girlfriend, who writes an online publication on Substack.

“A fundraising article reportedly published by Individual 1 in September 2026 claimed Individual 1 had “published reporting based on classified [relevant U.S. government agency] assessments.” Individual 1 posted on her social media profile, “I also accept leaks,” the DOJ said in its release.

Brinkman was arrested following a search of his Washington, D.C., home.

Quotes included in the affidavit match the description of posts to the Capital & Empire Substack, a Congress and defense publication written by Aida Chavez.

Chavez did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment. Chavez’s past work has appeared in The Hill, according to her bio on the social platform X.

In the DOJ’s statement announcing Brinkman’s arrest, FBI Director Kash Patel said any employee caught leaking classified information will “be met with the full weight of justice.”

“Protecting America’s secrets is a top counterintelligence priority of this FBI – and anyone caught abusing their position of trust within the government by jeopardizing national security and putting our brave warriors at risk will be met with the full weight of justice,” Patel said.

Identifying and prosecuting leakers has been a priority for the second Trump administration, threatening prosecution of both the government employees and media organizations that publish leaks.

In July, the DOJ moved to subpoena four journalists from The New York Times for their reporting on a luxury jet gifted to the president by Qatar, which was used as Air Force One but has periodically been pulled for security concerns .

Trump is not the first president to vow to go after leakers or to subpoena journalists — former presidents Obama, George W. Bush and Nixon did the same.