A former member of the US Army’s elite Delta Force squad has been arrested for leaking classified secrets to a reporter as prosecutors revealed her private messages.
Courtney Williams, 40, was arrested Wednesday in connection with her alleged transmission of classified national defense information to individuals not authorized to receive it, including a journalist.
While the affidavit doesn’t name the journalist, Williams is cited heavily in Seth Harp’s book ‘The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces’ and was featured in a Politico profile by Harp, both published last year.
The article, titled ‘My Life Became a Living Hell: One Woman’s Career in Delta Force, the Army’s Most Elite Unit’ detailed her time as a ‘signature reduction specialist.’
Court documents claim that between 2022 and 2025, Williams spoke via phone and text to Harp about her time working with the elite unit, which required her to sign a Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement when she was hired and fired.
In the affidavit, Special Agent Jocelyn Fox cited a text between the two she said occurred on or about the day the book and article were published.
‘Other than a few factual errors, I would definitely have been concerned with the amount of classified information being disclosed,’ Williams’ text read.
‘I thought things I was telling you so you could have a better general understanding of how the (SMU) was set up or operated would not be published and it feels like an entire TTP (Tactics, Techniques and Procedures) was sent out in my name giving them a chance to legally persecute me.’
A former member of the United States Army’s elite Delta Force squad has been arrested and charged with leaking classified secrets to a reporter
Courtney Williams, 40, was arrested Wednesday in connection with her alleged transmission of classified national defense information to individuals not authorized to receive it, including a journalist
Fox also cited an alleged exchange between Williams and her mother.
‘I might actually get arrested, and I don’t even get a free copy of the book,’ the affidavit read. ‘When her mother asked why she may be arrested, Williams responded ‘for disclosing classified information.’
Harp called Williams’ arrest ‘a vindictive act of retaliation, plain and simple.’
‘Courtney Williams is a brave whistleblower and truth-teller,’ the reporter told WRAL.
‘Former Delta Force operators disclose ”national defense information” on podcasts and YouTube shows every day, but the government is going after Courtney for the sole reason that she exposed sexual harassment and gender discrimination in the unit.’
Williams, who is specifically charged with violating a provision of the Espionage Act, made an initial appearance Wednesday in Raleigh federal court, where a magistrate judge unsealed the case against her, initially filed late last week, according to online court records.
She was ordered held by the US Marshals Service pending hearings set for early next week.
When Williams was fired, she filed an EEOC complaint and eventually settled for an amount she claimed was ‘sufficient to buy a small house in North Carolina.’
Williams is cited heavily in Seth Harp’s book ‘The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces’ and was featured in a Politico profile by Harp, both published last year
Harp wrote that Williams’ job meant she managed ‘valid but fictious passports’ and other identification for special forces operators on overseas missions.
His story also details accusations of what Harp described as gender discrimination and sexual harassment.
One incident mentioned Williams being forced to bend over for a supervisor ‘to assess whether her underwear could be seen through the fabric.’
The Department of Justice alleged that Williams both disclosed classified information to Harp and ‘made unauthorized disclosures of national defense information via her social media accounts.’
Harp named Williams as a source in his book and attributed specific information to his interviews with her over the course of 10 hours of telephone calls and over 180 text messages.
Williams, the DOJ alleged, saved ten files to her computer titled ‘Batch for Reporter’ that included personnel files from her time with Delta Force.
The complaint also cites one message from Harp where he talks to her about their exchange of information.
‘Just wanted to let you know I dropped this in the mail today for the thumb drive. It’s stamped and addressed and ready to be sent back, no need to go to the post office!’
Williams worked at the US Army’s Fort Bragg in North Carolina from 2010 to 2016
The complaint notes that the files ‘contained information that is properly classified as SECRET.’
‘The classified information comprised, in part, specific Tactics, Techniques & Procedures (TTPs) utilized by this (SMU) to execute sensitive missions.’
On the day both the profile and the book were released, Williams admitted to Harp in a text message she was ‘concerned about the amount of classified information being disclosed.’
She sent someone else a message writing: ‘I might actually get arrested . . . for disclosing classified information.’
In another message, she admitted she was ‘probably going to jail for life.’
When she was asked if she knew there could be legal consequences, she responded: ‘I have known my entire career, they tell you everyday . . . 100 times a day.’
However, the day the story was published, she celebrated it in a LinkedIn post writing that ‘I stood in rooms with thousands of men who watched me be sexually harassed, assaulted, and discriminated against. And they did nothing. All that power inherently gifted to them, and they did nothing.’
‘Anyone divulging information they vowed to protect to a reporter for publication is reckless, self-serving and damages our nation’s security,’ Reid Davis, the FBI special agent in charge in North Carolina, said in a Justice Department news release.
Williams ‘swore an oath to safeguard our nation’s secrets as an employee supporting a Special Military Unit of the Army, but she allegedly betrayed that oath by sharing classified information with a media outlet and putting our nation, our warfighters, and our allies at risk,’ Roman Rozhavsky, an assistant director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division, said in the statement.
FBI Director Kash Patel announced Williams’ arrest on social media.
‘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.’
Court records didn’t immediately name Williams’ lawyer.
