The FBI has arrested a former North Carolina government contractor for allegedly leaking classified national defense information on social media.

James Thomas Ashbacher, 37, of Spring Lake, was taken into custody after charges that he shared top-secret safety data online, unlawfully stored national defense materials at his residence and stole night-vision equipment from the US army special operations command.

He faces federal counts of unauthorized transmission of national defense information, unlawful retention of defense records and theft of government property, prosecutors said.

According to a press release from the justice department, Ashbacher “photographed and removed without authorization videos and photographs containing images of classified military operations and transmitted the materials to a social media site.…