WASHINGTON — The FBI searched the home of a Washington Post reporter Wednesday morning as part of an investigation into a government contractor accused of unlawfully hoarding federal secrets.

Agents searched journalist Hannah Natanson’s home in suburban Alexandria, Va., a source familiar with the matter told The Post.

Natanson covers the federal workforce for the newspaper and described herself as “the federal government whisperer” in a Dec. 24 first-person piece about her time reporting on President Trump’s attempts to downsize the DC bureaucracy.

Natanson’s home was searched in connection with an investigation into a contractor leaking secrets. Facebook / Hannah Natanson

“We can’t talk,” a man who answered the door of Natanson’s home — and matches the appearance of a man in her X account’s banner picture — told the Post Wednesday.

Agents seized Natanson’s phone, two laptops and a Garmin watch, according to the Washington Post.

One of the laptops was her personal computer, the other a Washington Post-issued device.

The target of the investigation is Aurelio Perez-Lugones, a Maryland system administrator who has a top-secret security clearance, the newspaper reported. Perez-Lugones is accused of taking home classified intelligence reports.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement on X the leaker “is currently behind bars.”

“This past week, at the request of the Department of War, the Department of Justice and FBI executed a search warrant at the home of a Washington Post journalist who was obtaining and reporting classified and illegally leaked information from a Pentagon contractor,” she added.

“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.”

Perez-Lugones has a “Top Secret” security clearance and works as a systems engineer and IT specialist for a government subcontractor in Annapolis Junction, Md., according to a criminal complaint filed in Maryland federal court on Jan. 9.

An affidavit from an FBI special agent accompanying the complaint alleged that he accessed databases “maintained by several Government agencies” to “view a classified intelligence report related to a foreign country.”

Perez-Lugones then took screenshots of the report and pasted them into a Microsoft word document that he printed out on Oct. 28, 2025, even though he “had no need to know and was not authorized to search for” its contents, the affidavit stated.

Between Jan. 5 and 7, he also viewed other classified material and took notes on a yellow legal pad, at least four pages of which he took home.

Federal agents executed a search warrant on Perez-Lugones’ Laurel, Md., residence on Jan. 8 and discovered “multiple documents that were marked SECRET,” per the affidavit.

Natanson covers the federal workforce for the newspaper and described herself as “the federal government whisperer” in a Dec. 24 first-person piece.

FBI special agent Keith Starr, who authored the affidavit, concluded: “One or more of these documents are related to national defense.”

Perez-Lugones now faces a maximum of 10 years in prison upon conviction for the charge of “unlawful retention of national defense information.

The Department of Justice argued in court filings for Perez-Lugones to be detained after a magistrate judge initially drafted conditional terms of pre-trial release for the defendant.

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Prosecutors claimed that he “poses a danger to the community.”

“The Defendant is charged with a serious national security violation,” wrote the prosecutors from US Attorney Kelly Hayes’ office in Jan. 13 filing in the District of Maryland.

“Agents seized documents containing national defense information from the Defendant’s car and home. However, the Government cannot seize everything in his head,” added the prosecutors Patricia McLane and Thomas Sullivan, who both serve as Assistant US Attorneys, Trial Attorney Menno Goedman, who serves in the DOJ’s National Security Division, and Assistant Attorney General John A. Eisenberg.

Agents seized Natanson’s phone, two laptops and a Garmin watch, according to the Washington Post.

“The Defendant has held a security clearance for over 25 years and the Government cannot ensure the safety of the country and US military personnel without detention,” the prosecutors added. “Only detention would provide the government a way to monitor whether the Defendant uses any of his knowledge to threaten national security.”

US District Chief Judge George Levi Russell III agreed to review the conditional release order at a hearing in a Baltimore federal courtroom on Thursday.

Perez-Lugones’ attorneys — public defenders Francisco Carriedo and Courtney Francik — did not immediately respond to requests for comment.