Johnathan Buma, a longtime agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was arrested and charged with the unlawful taking and disclosure of protected FBI files, a massive crime that carries with it a potentially quite large fine, up to a year in prison, or a combination of both a fine and imprisonment.
For reference, court documents show that Mr. Buma was, in connection with a book draft including improperly leaked information, charged by the Department of Justice with violating 18 U.S. Code Section 1905, which regards the “Disclosure of confidential information generally.” That code section provides, in the portions relevant to this case, that “any . . . agent of the Department of Justice” who “permits . . . any book containing any abstract or particulars thereof to be seen or examined by any person except as provided by law; shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and shall be removed from office or employment.”
Those court documents regarding Mr. Buma’s case noted that the FBI Special Agent was arrested by the federal government when attempting to board an international flight at New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on March 17, and that on March 18th a criminal complaint was brought against him in which the DOJ alleged that he violated the aforementioned code section.
Later on, those court documents described Mr. Buma’s alleged taking of documents. Beginning that section, the court provided, “On Friday, October 27, 2023, BUMA printed approximately 130 files from the FBI’s internal network, several of which summarized information provided to the FBI by CHSs, some of which were clearly marked with warnings that made clear that the information was to be protected.”
Building on that, the court documents noted other reports and messages he allegedly took without permission. Doing so, it noted, “On that same BUMA also printed nine text-file documents which contained text that had been copied and pasted from reports which were marked in such a way that made clear that the information must be protected, and which summarized information provided to the FBI by CHSs. BUMA also printed out screenshots of messages he exchanged with an FBI CHS via an encrypted messaging application (“Encrypted Messaging Application 1″).”
Then, getting to how he used the improper information in a way that violating the US Code section, the court documents noted that he allegedly sent them to a book publisher as part of a book he was trying to publish. Explaining that, the documents said, “On Monday, October 30, 2023, BUMA posted several messages on a social networking site containing excerpts from draft of a book he was writing about his career at the FBI. Between October and December 2023, BUMA emailed a draft of the book to various individuals. The book draft contained information that BUMA obtained through his position as an FBI Special Agent that relates to the FBI’s efforts and investigations into a foreign country’s weapons of mass destruction (“WMD”) program.”
It further noted, explaining another way he allegedly violated the law, “On November 2, 2023, BUMA wrote an email to various personal associates assisting him in negotiating a book deal with a publishing company. In that email, BUMA purported to “give authorization” to the recipients to share information that was subject to restrictions against dissemination and that he became aware of in his capacity as an FBI special agent.”
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Concluding that section, the court documents described how the information allegedly improperly obtained and disseminated by Buma made its way into the public domain. It provided, “In the fall of 2023, a U.S. media entity published an article containing confidential information related to reporting that was provided by a CHS to the FBI related to an associate of a foreign government official and that BUMA knew he had a duty to protect. The article addressed the same events as those discussed in certain of the Encrypted Messaging Application 1 messages and documents that BUMA printed from the FBI’s internal network on October 27, 2023, including documents which were clearly marked in a way to notify BUMA that he had a duty to protect the information.”
Watch Mr. Buma describe his whistleblower story here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video