A former U.S. government contractor was arrested following a federal indictment that accuses him of unlawfully transmitting and retaining classified national defense information, alongside charges of stealing government property.
James Thomas Ashbacher, 37, of Spring Lake, North Carolina, was taken into custody Tuesday by the FBI. According to prosecutors, Ashbacher began working in 2021 for a private firm providing security and emergency management services at Fort Bragg. His employment granted him access to sensitive military materials through a top-secret security clearance.
Investigators stated that Ashbacher photographed and copied documents detailing classified military operations without authorization. He allegedly uploaded these images and videos to a social media platform, from which other users subsequently redistributed the content to a secondary site.
During a subsequent search of Ashbacher’s residence, federal agents discovered an official award document containing classified defense data. Authorities also recovered a military-grade night-vision system belonging to an Army Special Operations unit that had previously been reported missing from the installation.
