A government contractor allegedly leaked classified information to his girlfriend, who then published stories about the information on her blog, according to newly released documents.
Ian Brinksman, 42, was charged on Oct. 23 with illegally transmitting national defense information after an FBI investigation found that he accessed classified information and allegedly conveyed it to a journalist who was described in court records as “Individual 1.”
The records included quotes from the unnamed individual’s blog. The only website that includes those quotes is a Substack blog run by a journalist who has published stories in recent months about classified CIA information, according to a search by The Epoch Times.
A lawyer representing Brinksman declined to comment, while the journalist did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
According to charging documents, Brinksman was able to access classified information due to his being a government contractor, but the reports were not related to his role.
In one instance, on March 11, Brinksman went to the facility where he works and allegedly accessed a classified report marked top secret after receiving a call from Individual 1, documents state. On the same day, the journalist published an article with content “similar to” the report, an FBI agent said in an affidavit.
On May 12, Brinksman called the individual, the agent said. Afterward, Brinksman allegedly accessed another classified report. Later in the day, he called the reporter four times, the agent said. On May 13, the individual published an article describing the report’s contents, according to the affidavit.
Those blog posts were not available on Oct. 26.
A July 29 post describing a confidential U.S. intelligence assessment of Israel is still up on the reporter’s Substack page. That article was published one day after Brinksman accessed a top secret report and exchanged calls with the individual, according to charging documents.
Records showed that Brinksman visited the Substack page from a federal government facility between March 1 and Oct. 5.
The affidavit describes five articles in all that allegedly contained classified information from reports Brinksman accessed.
Other evidence in the case includes emails indicating Brinksman helped Individual 1 edit an article before it was posted, the affidavit said.
Brinksman also emailed a friend on or around Nov. 20, 2025, saying he was “still laying low and trying to figure out what’s next (once the dust finally settles.),” according to the affidavit.
He allegedly added: “The lady I’ve been seeing is a journalist and recently went independent. So I’ve been helping her get that off the ground. Her venture focuses on foreign policy. So, I’m getting a surprising amount enrichment/fulfilment from working on that.”
The CIA was not named as the agency at which Brinksman works, but court documents said his work facility is in the Eastern District of Virginia, where Quantico is located.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe speaks at the White House on April 6, 2026. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
“The unauthorized release of classified material poses grave risks to our national security, intelligence sources, ongoing operations, and our officers,” Ratcliffe said. “There is absolutely zero tolerance for leaking, and anyone who violates their oath will be held accountable and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Attorney General Todd Blanche said that the Department of Justice “will continue prosecuting individuals who leak classified information and put our national security at risk.”
Correction: A previous version of this article misstated several dates outlined in the charging documents and the classification level of one of the reports accessed. The Epoch Times regrets the errors.
