RALEIGH, N.C. — The former Fort Bragg employee charged with releasing classified information on social media and to a reporter could face up to 40 years in prison, according to statements made in federal court Monday.

Courtney Williams was arrested April 7 and incarcerated until her detention hearing Monday, when a judge agreed to let her await trial at her home with electronic monitoring. Her conditions of release prohibit her from talking to reporters or using social media.

Williams, 40, of Wagram in Scotland County, North Carolina, has been indicted on four felony charges of sharing classified information with people who aren’t authorized to receive it. If convicted, she should face up to 10 years in prison for each of those charges.

At her detention hearing in Raleigh’s federal court, her hands and feet were shackled, and she wore black and white striped jail scrubs. She looked back and forth between the judge outlining the charges and her family sitting in the front row of the courtroom.

About Williams’ work for the U.S. Army

Williams describes herself as a retired government employee and veteran in her LinkedIn profile. The profile indicates she served in the U.S. Army for five years, ending in 2010, including as a team leader involved in gathering intelligence.

Williams was hired as defense contractor in 2010 and within months became a civilian employee of the U.S. Department of Defense, according to court documents. She served as an operation support technician for a U.S. Army Special Military Unit at Fort Bragg, where her duties included supporting the unit in preparing for and during sensitive secret missions.

As part of her employment, she signed multiple agreements while she worked with the Army through 2016 not to disclose classified information, court documents state. Around 2016, members of the Special Military Unit suspended her access to classified information after an internal investigation, court documents state.

Williams violated her duty and federal law when she disclosed information on social media and to a journalist between July 2022 and August 2025, her indictment says. The indictment says she spoke to a reporter multiple times, including over 180 text messages.

In a statement, the Freedom of the Press Foundation said Williams’ charges underscore the Pentagon’s efforts to limit journalists’ access to information. It said Williams is a whistleblower who exposed sexual harassment she experienced and witnessed during her tenure.

Book by Politico journalist Seth Harp

Court documents don’t name the journalist, but Politico investigative reporter Seth Harp wrote an article and published a 2025 book, “The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces,” quoting Williams detailing harassment she faced in Delta Force, an elite covert Army unit.

Classified information she shared, according to the indictment, includes:

— A “cover alias identity” issued by the Army.

— Tactics, techniques and procedures used by the unit on covert missions.

— Names of individuals assigned to the unit.

After the book was published in 2025, Williams texted Harp, expressing concerns about factual errors and how much classified information the book disclosed, her criminal complaint states.

She shared the information so the reporter he would have a better understanding of how the unit works, but she acknowledged that the information he included would likely result in her being charged with federal crimes, Williams wrote.

“I’m taking deep breaths, but have a feeling this is going to be more of nightmare for my children than not,” she texted.

Harp has since shared on social media platform X that everything in the book Williams shared was “on the record.”

“Courtney’s last-minute second thoughts were definitely concerning but by then the book was already printed,” he wrote.

‘Rampant corruption and criminality’

The Freedom of the Press Foundation said Williams was charged after “blowing the whistle” about “sexual harassment and discrimination she experienced and witnessed during her military tenure.”

The foundation’s Chief of Advocacy Seth Stern wrote in a statement that the real threat to national security is the “rampant corruption and criminality” that Harp documented in his book. That’s why the administration “wants to punish whistleblowers and chill investigative reporting by bringing cases like this one,” Stern wrote.

After Williams’ arrest, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth applauded North Carolina FBI officials and the U.S. Department of Justice on social media platform X for their work on the case.

“Let this serve as a message to any would-be leakers: we’re working these cases, and we’re making arrests. This FBI will not tolerate those who seek to betray our country and put Americans in harm’s way,” he wrote.

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