The FBI searched Washington Post (WaPo) reporter Hannah Natanson’s home and devices Wednesday as part of an investigation into a Pentagon contractor accused of sharing government secrets, according to multiple reports.
Natanson, who covers the Trump administration’s reshaping of the federal government for the WaPo, had her phone, two laptops and a Garmin watch seized from her Virginia home, the outlet reported. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the search was done at the request of the Department of War, adding that her Justice Department (DOJ) would resume searching reporters’ phones to find alleged leakers of government information, according to an internal memo published in 2025, the WaPo reported.
“The leaker is currently behind bars,” Bondi said, referring to the Pentagon contractor, in a statement posted to X. “I am proud to work alongside [War] Secretary [Pete] Hegseth on this effort. The Trump Administration will not tolerate illegal leaks of classified information that, when reported, pose a grave risk to our Nation’s national security and the brave men and women who are serving our country.”
When reached for comment, the FBI directed the Daily Caller News Foundation to FBI Director Kash Patel’s statement on X.
“This morning the FBI and partners executed a search warrant of an individual at the Washington Post who was found to allegedly be obtaining and reporting classified, sensitive military information from a government contractor – endangering our warfighters and compromising America’s national security,” Patel said in his statement. “The alleged leaker was arrested this week and is in custody. As this is an ongoing investigation, we will have no further comment.”
Natanson was at her home at the time of the search but was told she is not the focus of the probe, the WaPo reported. The FBI’s search warrant said Aurelio Perez-Lugones, a system administrator in Maryland who has top-secret security clearance, is also being investigated due to accusations he accessed and took home classified intelligence reports that were found in his lunchbox and his basement, according to the FBI affidavit.
The home searches signal an escalation in the administration’s efforts to curb leaks, as it is highly unusual for law enforcement to conduct searches on reporters’ homes. Bondi rescinded a Biden-era policy in April that prevented officials from searching reporters’ phone records when attempting to identify leaks.
Bondi had said the DOJ would only search reporters’ communication records after every other investigative method had been exhausted, according to an internal memo obtained by the WaPo.
Natanson recently published a piece on her newfound sources, with a college reportedly calling her “the federal government whisperer.” She also was a part of a team of WaPo journalists awarded a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
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