The FBI arrested a CIA contractor on Friday, October 23, and prosecutors charged him with passing national defense secrets to a romantic partner who publishes on Substack. The Justice Department says Ian A. Brinksman, 42, was arrested after a search of his residence and charged by criminal complaint with unlawfully transmitting national defense information.

The complaint says Brinksman joined a U.S. government agency in the Eastern District of Virginia in 2020 and in 2022 moved to a contractor for that agency. He held a Top Secret clearance with Sensitive Compartmented Information access. CIA Director John Ratcliffe said the FBI acted after a referral from the agency, Just the News reports.

The department says Brinksman had an ongoing personal relationship with a person it calls Individual 1, who maintains a publication on Substack. Individual 1 posted the public comment “I also accept leaks,” IntentSec reports. OctoProbe reports the affidavit says Brinksman was one of no more than six people who accessed the Substack page from the federal facility between March 1 and October 5, 2026, and the only one who viewed all five articles and accessed all five reports.

Assistant Attorney General John A. Eisenberg said 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.” Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department “will continue prosecuting individuals who leak classified information and put our national security at risk.”

Prosecutors say a cleared contractor pulled Top Secret reports outside his job and gave them to someone who publicly asked for leaks.

Attorney General Todd Blanche says the department will keep prosecuting people who leak classified information.