Pentagon Contractor Indicted for Leaking Classified Info to the Washington Post

A federal grand jury indicted a government contractor on Thursday who allegedly leaked classified information to a reporter at The Washington Post.

Aurelio Luis Perez-Lugones has been charged with six felony violations of the Espionage Act, including five counts of unlawfully transmitting and one count of unlawfully retaining national defense information, the Department of Justice announced. Perez-Lugones’ alleged leaks prompted the Federal Bureau of Investigation to search the home of Hannah Natanson, the reporter at The Washington Post, and seize several of her belongings on Jan. 14.

Between October 2025 and January 2026, Perez-Lugones allegedly accessed classified information, printed or copied the reports, and transmitted the information to Natanson, according to the DOJ.

Natanson then contributed to at least five articles containing classified information between