Former Fort Bragg Contractor Charged With Posting Classified Military Videos on Social Media, Keeping Special Operations Night Vision Goggles

A former government contractor who worked at the U.S. Army Special Operations Command facility at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, has been charged with posting classified military videos and photographs on social media and keeping a missing night vision system at his home, the Justice Department announced Friday.

James Thomas Ashbacher, 37, of Spring Lake, North Carolina, was arrested by the FBI on Tuesday, Oct. 27, when an indictment against him was unsealed, according to the department. He is charged with unlawfully transmitting and retaining national defense information and with theft of government property.

What the Indictment Alleges

According to the Justice Department's summary of the indictment, Ashbacher began working around 2021 for a private company that provided security and emergency management services at the Army Special Operations Command facility at Fort Bragg. He held a Top Secret security clearance with access to Sensitive Compartmented Information, the department said.

Prosecutors allege he photographed and removed, without authorization, videos and photographs showing classified military operations and posted them to a social media site. The material was later reposted by other users on a second social media site, the department said.

The indictment alleges Ashbacher later asked a social media user in a private message to take some of the material down, writing that he was "trying to do some damage control," according to the department.

The Search of His Home

A search of Ashbacher's residence turned up a classified award write-up containing more national defense information, prosecutors said. Agents also found a night vision goggle system specific to a military unit within Army Special Operations Command that had been reported missing, according to the announcement.

The Justice Department did not name the social media sites, describe the operations shown in the material or say how widely it was viewed. It also did not name the contractor that employed Ashbacher.

The Case in Court

The case, United States v. Ashbacher, No. 5:26-cr-00205, is in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. Court records posted to the federal judiciary's public docket system show the court entered an order setting conditions of release for Ashbacher on Oct. 27, the day of his arrest.

The FBI's Charlotte Field Office is investigating with help from the Army's Criminal Investigation Division. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Leslie Esbrook of the National Security Division's Counterintelligence and Export Control Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Logan Liles of the Eastern District of North Carolina.

Under federal law, unlawfully transmitting or retaining national defense information carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison per count. The department did not say how many counts the indictment contains.

An indictment is an accusation. Ashbacher is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. No attorney for him was listed in the department's announcement.

Sources: U.S. Department of Justice, "Former U.S. Government Contractor Arrested for Allegedly Leaking National Defense Information and Stealing Night Vision Goggles" (Oct. 30, 2026): https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-us-government-contractor-arrested-allegedly-leaking-national-defense-information-and ; Docket, United States v. Ashbacher, No. 5:26-cr-00205 (E.D.N.C.), via CourtListener: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/75026835/united-states-v-ashbacher/ ; 18 U.S.C. § 793: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/793 . Cover photo: Enhanced Night Vision Goggles technical demonstration by Luke Allen, U.S. Army, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.