The FBI has arrested Ian A. Brinksman, a 42-year-old contractor who provided services to the CIA, on charges of passing classified information to a man who posted it on Substack. He was arrested after a search of his home and charged with criminally transmitting information related to national defense.
“The FBI arrested the suspect after he was caught passing classified defense information and violating his oath,“ FBI Director Kash Patel said. According to him, protecting American secrets is among the bureau's top priorities.
Five classified reports and five publications
According to the criminal complaint, Brinksman has worked for a US government agency since around 2020, and since September 2022, he has been a systems integration developer at a company performing a contract for the same agency. He held a clearance for access to information at the level of Top Secret and Sensitive Compartmented Information.
As part of his official duties, Brinksman performed data transfers between classified and unclassified systems. However, the investigation claims that the five reports he accessed were not related to his direct job duties.
The first described incident dates back to March 11, 2026. At that time, Brinksman accessed a report marked Top Secret, and later that day, the person with whom he had a personal relationship posted material with similar content on Substack. A similar sequence is described for four other reports accessed between May 12 and October 1.
The criminal complaint states that an original classification authority confirmed the presence of classified information in the five publications. Some of the reports were designated TS/SCI, a level that the document says is used for information whose disclosure could cause extremely serious harm to national security.
Investigation continues
The FBI says Brinksman was the only one of no more than six people who visited the relevant Substack page from the government facility who was given access to all five reports and all five publications. Investigators also reviewed a notebook left on his desk from which parts of several pages had been torn out.
The case is being investigated by FBI field offices in Chicago and Washington. The charge is under section 793(d) of the US federal law, which provides for up to 10 years in prison for the illegal transmission of information related to national defense.
The Department of Justice emphasizes that the charges in the criminal complaint are allegations, not proven guilt. Brinksman is presumed innocent until proven guilty by a court of law.