FBI Director Kash Patel has confirmed that federal agents raided the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson as part of a widening national security investigation into the illegal leaking of classified military intelligence.
In a statement posted on X, Patel said the FBI moved after uncovering evidence that a journalist had been receiving and publishing sensitive information from a Pentagon-linked government contractor, potentially endangering U.S. military operations abroad.
“This morning the FBI and partners executed a search warrant of an individual at the Washington Post who was found to allegedly be obtaining and reporting classified, sensitive military information from a government contractor, endangering our warfighters and compromising America’s national security,” Patel said.
“The alleged leaker was arrested this week and is in custody. As this is an ongoing investigation, we will have no further comment.”
Federal agents reportedly searched Natanson’s home in Alexandria, Virginia, on Tuesday morning, seizing two laptops — one personal, one issued by the newspaper — her phone, and a smartwatch. A man answering the door told The Post only, “We can’t talk.”
Natanson, who covers the federal workforce and recently described herself as “the federal government whisperer,” has been the author of several reports critical of the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to reduce Washington’s bureaucracy and overhaul the civil service.
Attorney General Pam Bondi also confirmed the operation in a statement Wednesday evening, calling the leak “a grave national security breach.”
“This past week, at the request of the Department of War, the Department of Justice and FBI executed a search warrant at the home of a Washington Post journalist who was obtaining and reporting classified and illegally leaked information from a Pentagon contractor,” Bondi said. “The Trump administration will not tolerate illegal leaks of classified information that pose a grave risk to our national security and to the brave men and women serving our country.”
Officials said the raid was part of a coordinated effort to dismantle an insider network accused of stealing and transmitting sensitive defense data from the Pentagon’s secure systems to members of the press.
The contractor at the center of the case has been identified as Aurelio Perez-Lugones, a 41-year-old Maryland-based systems administrator with top-secret clearance who worked for a government subcontractor in Annapolis Junction — a hub for defense and intelligence operations.
According to a criminal complaint filed January 9, Perez-Lugones accessed restricted government databases to view classified intelligence tied to a foreign country and illegally printed or photographed the information in October 2025. Investigators say he later reviewed more classified material in early January and took handwritten notes home on a yellow legal pad.
During a search of his Laurel, Maryland, residence on January 8, FBI agents discovered “multiple documents marked SECRET,” according to the affidavit filed by FBI Special Agent Keith Starr. “One or more of these documents are related to national defense,” Starr wrote.
Perez-Lugones has been charged with unlawful retention of national defense information, a felony that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
Federal prosecutors are urging the court to keep him in custody, arguing he remains a threat to national security.
“The defendant is charged with a serious national security violation,” prosecutors said in a January 13 filing. “Agents seized documents containing national defense information from the defendant’s car and home. However, the government cannot seize everything in his head.”
They added that “only detention would provide the government a way to monitor whether the defendant uses any of his knowledge to threaten national security.”
U.S. District Judge George Levi Russell III is scheduled to decide Thursday whether Perez-Lugones will remain jailed pending trial. His defense attorneys have not commented.
The Washington Post confirmed the raid and seizure of equipment but said it is seeking additional details from federal authorities. “We are deeply concerned whenever journalists are targeted by law enforcement for their reporting,” a spokesperson said.
The incident marks one of the most aggressive leak investigations in recent memory, signaling that the Trump administration’s Justice Department intends to enforce strict accountability for the mishandling of classified material.
