The FBI raid on a journalist's home is yet another sign of the information blackout at the Pentagon.
The Washington Post reports that federal agents have shown up at the home of one of its reporters who covers issues related to government officials.
WashingtonFBI agents searched the home of the journalist on Wednesday morning. Washington Post Hannah Natanson was burglarized, and a cell phone and two laptops were taken, according to the same media outlet. Natanson has been covering issues concerning federal government workers, one of the most sensitive topics this year amidst the mass layoffs by the Donald Trump administration. The search is reportedly part of an investigation into a government contractor accused of illegally withholding classified government material.
Last month, Natanson wrote a first-person account of her year as "the whisper of the federal government," receiving messages from hundreds of federal workers explaining what it was like to experience the layoffs from the inside. massive cuts then spearheaded by DOGE under Elon Musk. While it's not surprising that FBI agents conduct leak investigations involving journalists who publish sensitive government information, it's highly unusual and aggressive for law enforcement to raid a journalist's home.
Shortly after the Post reported the incident, US Attorney General Pam Bondi explained to social media that the search occurred "at the request of the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice, and the FBI. A search warrant was executed at the home of a journalist from the Washington Post who was illegally obtaining and reporting classified and leaked information from a Pentagon contractor."
The contractor in question, according to the search warrant, is Aurelio Pérez-Lugones, a systems administrator from Maryland with top-secret security clearance. He is accused of accessing classified information that was found in his lunchbox and basement, according to the FBI.
The Washington Post journalist's registration comes amid the secrecy the Trump administration is imposing on the Pentagon. Last October, major media outlets—including FOX News, the network friendly to Donald Trump—protested against the Department of Defense's (DoD) new press policy, which effectively tied the hands of journalists covering the department and reduced them to mere mouthpieces for the government's messages. The DoD prohibited reporters from accessing or requesting information that the department did not provide. If this new directive was not accepted by the given deadline, press credentials would be revoked.
When the time came, accredited journalists from outlets such as Washington Post, he New York TimesNews agencies such as the Associated Press, Reuters, and Bloomberg, along with other major news organizations, were collecting their belongings from the Pentagon's press facility after refusing to accept the new conditions. With a long list of media outlets vehemently rejecting policies that aim to impede the media's watchdog role, the Trump administration is succeeding in creating a blind spot in one of the most sensitive areas of government: the military.
In recent months, the press room where these media outlets were previously located has become increasingly crowded. of influencers Far-right individuals are responsible for monitoring Pentagon information from within. Among the newly accredited individuals is Laura Loomer, a prominent figure in the MAGA movement and a close ally of Trump.
The move to seal off the Pentagon is part of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's campaign to crack down on whistleblowers and internal dissent. The department plans to impose even stricter confidentiality agreements on its more than 5,000 employees, as well as subject them to random polygraph tests. During a surprise meeting in Quantico last fall, attended by hundreds of generals, Hegseth also announced that anonymous whistleblowing was over. This is yet another step in the campaign to silence critical voices in the military and build a force comprised only of loyal soldiers.