Former North Carolina military contractor accused of leaking defense secrets

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FORT BRAGG, N.C. (WBTV) - A former North Carolina military contractor was arrested this week for leaking classified defense secrets and stealing Army night vision goggles, federal prosecutors said.

FBI agents arrested 37-year-old James Ashbacher, a former U.S. government contractor, on Tuesday, Oct. 27, in North Carolina.

Ashbacher, who held a top-security clearance, was accused of leaking national defense information on a “popular social media site,” unlawfully keeping national defense information at his home and stealing night vision goggles from the U.S. Army.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Ashbacher began working around 2021 for an unidentified private company that provided security and emergency management services to a U.S. Army special operations facility at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

While on the job, he allegedly photographed and filmed classified military operations and posted the files to an unidentified social media platform. Other users later reposted the sensitive material to another site.

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When Ashbacher learned of the reposts, investigators said, he messaged a user asking them to remove some of the classified information, saying he was “trying to do some damage control.”

Investigators later searched his home and found a classified “award write-up” containing additional national defense information, along with missing U.S. Army night vision goggles.

The FBI’s Charlotte field office investigated the case alongside the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division.

Ashbacher was charged Tuesday with unlawfully transmitting and retaining national defense information and theft of government property.

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