By Gao Yun
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) searched the home of a Washington Post reporter on Wednesday, Jan. 14. The action was part of an investigation into a leak involving a government contractor accused of illegally retaining classified materials.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi posted on X the same day, stating that the reporter allegedly “obtained and reported classified information that was illegally leaked from a Pentagon contractor,” who has since been arrested.
The Washington Post confirmed to the BBC that the reporter whose home was searched is Hannah Natanson. Natanson has long covered the Trump administration’s efforts to cut federal agency staff and reorganize government operations.
Federal agents seized her phone, a work computer, a personal computer, and a Garmin smartwatch from her home in Virginia. Natanson was told that she was not the target of the investigation.
Success
You are now signed up for our newsletter
Success
Check your email to complete sign up
Reports indicate that the main subject of the investigation is Aurelio Perez-Lugones, a systems administrator in Maryland with Top Secret security clearance. The FBI affidavit states that he has worked for the government as a contractor since 2002 and has accessed and printed classified intelligence reports.
According to a criminal complaint filed Jan. 9 in the U.S. District Court for Maryland, Perez-Lugones is a U.S. citizen, a Navy veteran, and was born in Miami. The FBI accuses him of unauthorized searches of databases containing classified information and of preserving content through printing or screenshots. He is said to have started collecting these materials in October of last year, involving information “related to a foreign country,” though the documents do not indicate that he disseminated them externally.
Court documents show that officials found classified information in a lunchbox during a search of his vehicle. He is charged with unlawful retention of defense information and is expected to appear in court on Thursday.
Bondi said the Trump administration “will not tolerate illegal disclosure of classified information” and warned that reporting such information could pose serious risks to national security and service members.
The report also noted that Natanson had previously interacted with more than 1,000 current or former federal employee sources while covering the Trump administration’s layoffs, buyouts, and other personnel reduction measures, highlighting the pressures of handling sensitive information.
Additionally, in April of this year, Bondi terminated a Biden-era policy that had restricted law enforcement from seizing reporters’ phone records or compelling reporters to testify in leak investigations.
