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Contractor indicted over alleged leaks to Washington Post

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A government contractor whose handling of classified information triggered 
a court-authorized search of a Washington Post reporter’s home was charged 
Thursday by a federal grand jury in Maryland with six felony violations of 
the Espionage Act, the Justice Department said.

Aurelio Luis Perez-Lugones, 61, was indicted on five counts of unlawfully 
transmitting and one count of unlawfully retaining national defense 
information, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Maryland announced.

While the announcement did not name the journalist Perez-Lugones allegedly 
sent classified information to, DOJ officials said the charges stemmed 
from his sharing of national security secrets with Washington Post 
reporter Hannah Natanson.

The federal investigation of Perez-Lugones swept in Natanson last week 
when the FBI searched her Alexandria, Virginia, home and seized several 
electronic devices in a bid to unearth evidence of her contact with the 
information technology contractor and Navy veteran.

That search drew criticism from First Amendment and press freedom 
advocates for departing from the usual practice of subpoenaing records 
from the media instead of seizing them. It also raised questions about 
whether DOJ complied with a 1980 law that sharply restricts the use of 
search warrants for records related to newsgathering.

On Wednesday, a magistrate judge in Alexandria ordered investigators to 
halt any review of Natanson’s devices until the court rules on a request 
from her and the Post to return them. A hearing on the matter is slated 
for early February.

The text of the indictment against Perez-Lugones was not immediately 
available Thursday, but the DOJ announcement alleged that, between October 
and January, he “repeatedly accessed classified reports, printed or copied 
the information in these classified reports, and then removed this 
classified information from the sensitive compartmented information 
facility (SCIF) where he worked.”

“Perez-Lugones transmitted the classified national defense information to 
a reporter … who was not authorized to receive it. In turn, [the reporter] 
co-authored and contributed to at least five articles that contained 
classified information Perez-Lugones provided, resulting in the 
dissemination of the information to the public,” the DOJ statement said.

Natanson is not charged with any offense.

DOJ claims that on Jan. 8, the day FBI agents searched Perez-Lugones’ 
Laurel, Maryland, home, he wrote to Natanson on an encrypted app: “I’m 
going quiet for a bit ... just to see if anyone starts asking questions.”

Perez-Lugones could face a maximum sentence of 60 years in prison if 
convicted on all charges, but defendants in federal criminal cases are 
usually sentenced under guidelines that typically call for shorter 
sentences. Last week, a magistrate judge ordered Perez-Lugones released 
pending trial, but prosecutors appealed that ruling and he and his 
attorneys later withdrew his request for release, at least for now.

“Illegally disclosing classified defense information is a grave crime 
against America that puts both our national security and the lives of our 
military heroes at risk,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. 
“This Department of Justice will remain ever-vigilant in protecting the 
integrity of America’s classified intelligence.”

A spokesperson for the Washington Post did not immediately respond to a 
request for comment.

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/22/washington-post-classified-docs-
00743280

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Contractor indicted over alleged leaks to Washington Post Democrat Employment Interruptus <dei@fired.com> - 2026-01-23 11:45 +0100
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