FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Washington, D.C., April 9, 2026 — Courtney Williams, a former Army employee, has been charged under the Espionage Act for blowing the whistle to journalist Seth Harp on sexual harassment and discrimination she experienced and witnessed during her military tenure. Harp cited Williams as a source in his 2025 book, “The Fort Bragg Cartel,” and an article in Politico Magazine.
The government’s complaint is vague about what classified information Williams disclosed and what, if any, risk it contends the information posed to national security, as well as on the tactics used to obtain information about Williams, Harp, and their communications.
The following can be attributed to Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) Chief of Advocacy Seth Stern.
“Ask anybody who has read ‘The Fort Bragg Cartel’ which they think is the real threat to national security: Seth Harp’s sources, or the rampant corruption and criminality they enabled him to document. The administration knows the answer to that question, and that’s why it wants to punish whistleblowers and chill investigative reporting by bringing cases like this one.
“The charges also underscore why the Pentagon’s unconstitutional efforts to limit journalists’ access to everything except ‘authorized’ information are so outrageous. Does anyone think Pete Hegseth or his authorized PR flacks would have voluntarily disclosed these abuses to their briefing room of stenographers? Of course not. This is very clearly a retaliatory, anti-transparency prosecution and nothing more. The notion that an administration that casually posts genocide threats during its illegal wars is worried about national security risks from whistleblowers who expose sexual harassment is absurd.”
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