WASHINGTON — The FBI searched the home of a Washington Post reporter on Wednesday as part of an investigation into a government contractor accused of illegally retaining classified national defense information, according to confirmation from the newspaper.
The reporter, Hannah Natanson, was at her Virginia residence when federal agents arrived. Investigators seized her cellphone, work and personal laptops, and a Garmin smartwatch, the Post reported. Authorities told Natanson she is not the target of the investigation.
The search is connected to a criminal case involving Aurelio Perez-Lugones, a Navy veteran and Maryland-based systems administrator who holds a Top Secret security clearance. Perez-Lugones has been charged with “unlawful retention of national defense information,” according to a criminal complaint filed Jan. 9 in U.S. District Court in Maryland.
Federal prosecutors allege that Perez-Lugones accessed classified databases without authorization beginning in October and either printed or captured screenshots of sensitive material. The complaint states the information was related to a foreign country and that Perez-Lugones “had no need to know” and was not permitted to view or retain the documents.
According to court records, the FBI had placed Perez-Lugones under surveillance, including monitoring his activity inside a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF), a secure area used for handling highly classified material. Investigators observed him logging into restricted systems and later photographed him leaving his workplace with a black bag on Jan. 6.
Two days later, agents searched his home in Laurel, Maryland, where they allegedly found a document marked “SECRET” in the basement. Investigators also reported discovering additional classified documents in a lunch box inside his vehicle. At least one of the documents was described as relating to national defense, the complaint said.
Perez-Lugones, a Miami-born U.S. citizen, made his initial court appearance last week. The criminal complaint does not reference Natanson or suggest she had contact with the contractor.
Natanson covers the federal workforce for The Washington Post and is known among colleagues for her reporting on government agencies. Early in President Donald Trump’s second term, she was assigned to cover workforce reductions linked to Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency. She was also part of the Post reporting team that won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for coverage of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The search has raised concerns within media circles about press freedoms and the handling of journalists’ materials during leak investigations, though authorities have emphasized that Natanson is not a suspect in the case.
