Top-secret CIA contractor accused of handing girlfriend 'most closely held secrets'

A government contractor with top-secret access is facing federal charges after allegedly feeding classified intelligence to someone he was dating.

The FBI arrested Ian Brinksman, a Washington resident who did contract work for the CIA, on Friday after searching his home, the Justice Department announced. Prosecutors allege he passed national defense information to a romantic partner who runs a newsletter on Substack.

"As alleged, 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," Assistant Attorney General John Eisenberg, who leads the department's National Security Division, said in a statement. "That is not carelessness. It is a betrayal of his oath."

Brinksman went to work for an unnamed U.S. government agency in 2020 and moved in 2022 to a job as a systems integration developer at a private contractor serving that same agency, according to the complaint. Throughout that time, he held a Top Secret clearance with access to Sensitive Compartmented Information.

An FBI agent's sworn affidavit says he repeatedly pulled up classified intelligence reports and then made contact with his partner, identified only as "Individual 1." Investigators point to phone records, badge-swipe data, database logs and emails, and they allege that on at least five occasions this year she published articles mirroring the classified reports, some marked top secret.

Washington Examiner reporter Kaelan Deese, citing the affidavit, reported via X that investigators tracked more than 800 calls or attempted calls between the pair in 2026. Deese also noted that a LinkedIn profile under Brinksman's name lists stints at Deloitte and a current post as a U.S. Navy reserve intelligence officer.

The affidavit quotes a September fundraising post in which Individual 1 claimed to have "published reporting based on classified" agency assessments. According to the Justice Department, she also wrote on social media, "I also accept leaks."

Reuters reported that the quoted language matches a Sept. 28 post on Capital & Empire, a newsletter written by former Nation journalist Aída Chávez, and Deese said a source told him the newsletter was a match. Chávez did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment, and a federal public defender representing Brinksman declined to comment.

Capital & Empire has published multiple stories describing classified CIA assessments, including an Oct. 5 report, co-published with Drop Site News, describing a CIA analysis that warned Israel could slide into civil conflict. The Justice Department has not said which articles are tied to the case.