Former FBI Agent Charged With Illegally Sharing Confidential Files

A former FBI agent specializing in national security and terrorism cases has been charged with unlawfully taking and disclosing protected FBI files, according to court records reviewed by CBS News. Johnathan Buma was arrested as he boarded an international flight at JFK airport in New York, and released on $100,000 bond, with orders to appear in court in Los Angeles.

Allegations of Unauthorized Access and Disclosure

The Justice Department's filings allege that Buma printed caches of FBI records from an internal agency network. Nearly 130 files might have been compromised, according to an FBI investigator. The government argues that the records were clearly marked as confidential or secure and were copied by Buma in the hours before he left his job at the bureau in October 2023.

Social Media Posts and Book Manuscript

The charging documents also allege that days after taking copies of the records, Buma used social media to post excerpts of a book he was writing about his career with the bureau. Federal investigators allege the book included information Buma obtained from the FBI about an investigation of a foreign nation's weapons of mass destruction program.

Buma's Previous Public Statements and Testimony

Before leaving his job, Buma claimed to be a whistleblower and was publicly critical of the Trump administration during President Trump's first term. He had also testified before a Senate committee in 2023 that his informants were the first to alert the government about possible misconduct by Hunter Biden in business dealings in Ukraine with an energy company. He said they provided information "concerning Hunter Biden's escapades in Ukraine with Burisma and how he used his position as the vice president's son to get a lucrative position." According to the charging documents, Buma is also accused of saving screenshots of messages he exchanged with a confidential FBI source.

In court filings submitted in a U.S. District Court in New York, investigators referenced Buma's own book manuscript. In one section, Buma refers to himself as "one of the nation's top performing counterintelligence agents."