Who is Hannah Natanson? All you need to know about Washington Post reporter raided by FBI over classified documents leak

Natanson’s report on Trump administration

Natanson covers the Trump administration’s transformation of the federal government and recently published a piece describing how she gained hundreds of new sources, leading a colleague to call her “the federal government whisperer.”

In December, she published a viral first-person account titled “I am The Post’s ‘federal government whisperer.’ It’s been brutal,” detailing the relentless pace of managing over 1,100 new sources from within the federal workforce.

Who is Hannah Natanson?

Natanson is an award-winning journalist who has, in the past, covered issues like school shootings and book bans.

In 2022, Natanson was part of the team that won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for coverage of the January 6 insurrection.

In 2024, she received the Peabody Award for a podcast series on school gun violence.

Leaked documents investigation

Confirming the news, US Attorney General Pam Bondi said the search was done at the Pentagon’s request as part of a leak investigation.

While classified documents investigations aren’t unusual, the search of a reporter’s home marks an escalation in the government’s efforts to crack down on leaks.

An affidavit stated that the search was related to an investigation into a system administrator in Maryland who authorities allege took home classified reports, the newspaper reported. The system administrator, Aurelio Perez-Lugones, was charged earlier this month with unlawful retention of national defense information, according to court papers.

Perez-Lugones, who held a top-secret security clearance, is accused of printing classified and sensitive reports at work. In a search of his Maryland home and car this month, authorities found documents marked “SECRET,” including one in a lunchbox, according to court papers.