The House Oversight Committee has voted to subpoena Rolling Stone contributing editor Seth Harp after he publicized the identity and family details of a Delta Force commander allegedly involved in a recent U.
S. military operation in Venezuela.
According to Western Journal, Harp on Sunday posted to X a detailed biography of the officer, including his full name and the fact that he has a wife and five daughters, alongside a photograph. Harp later claimed that X locked his account until he removed the post, a claim he made in a Monday statement shared on the same platform.
The Daily Caller News Foundation has chosen to withhold the commanders name and the contents of the biography Harp circulated, citing security concerns. That restraint stands in stark contrast to Harps decision to broadcast sensitive information about a member of one of Americas most secretive military units.
Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, a member of the House Oversight Committee, introduced the motion to subpoena Harp, denouncing his actions as doxxing and accusing him of having leaked classified information. I have made a motion to subpoena Seth Harp, which passed unanimously with bipartisan support in committee, to face accountability for leaking classified intelligence related to Operation Absolute Resolve, including the doxxing of a U.S. Delta Force commander, Luna said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Luna argued that Harps conduct fell far outside the bounds of legitimate reporting and directly endangered American personnel. That conduct is not protected journalism. It was reckless, dangerous, and put American lives at risk. The First Amendment does not give anyone a license to expose elite military personnel, compromise operations, or assist our adversaries under the guise of reporting. Congress has a constitutional duty to investigate when national security is endangered, and no one is above oversight.
Luna further disclosed that the matter has been referred to federal prosecutors for potential criminal review. Seth Harp has also been referred to the Department of Justice for his actions, and I look forward to the findings of the investigation, her statement continued.
Following the committee vote, Luna underscored the moral dimension of the controversy, emphasizing the risk to the officers family. Putting a service member and their family in danger is dishonorable and feckless, she wrote on X, noting that the subpoena passed with strong bipartisan backing, including support from the panels ranking Democrat, Rep. Robert Garcia of California.
Harps own commentary on the Venezuela operation has raised additional eyebrows, particularly his sympathetic framing of the ousted socialist strongman Nicols Maduro. In his post, Harp described Maduro as the rightful president of Venezuela and claimed that President Donald Trump had kidnapped the dictator, language that aligns more closely with anti-American propaganda than with objective reporting.
The United States government and the overwhelming majority of its democratic allies had long regarded Maduro as an illegitimate ruler before his removal from power. That international consensus reflected widespread evidence of electoral fraud, repression, and economic devastation under his socialist regime, realities Harps rhetoric conspicuously downplays.
The identities of Special Operations personnel, especially those serving in units such as Delta Force, are typically treated as highly sensitive and often classified by the U.S. military. The Washington Post has noted that such secrecy is designed to protect both operational security and the safety of service members and their families, who can become targets for hostile regimes and terrorist organizations.
Luna reiterated her constitutional and national security concerns in a separate statement to The Washington Post, repeating her warning about the misuse of press freedoms. The First Amendment does not give anyone a license to expose elite military personnel, compromise operations, or assist our adversaries under the guise of reporting, she said. Congress has a constitutional duty to investigate when national security is endangered, and no one is above oversight.
Garcia, despite his position as the committees top Democrat, joined Lunas motion after successfully adding an amendment expanding the scope of the subpoenas. His amendment calls for compelling testimony from Richard Kahn and Darren Indyke, co-executors of the late Jeffrey Epsteins estate, as part of a broader effort to obtain Epstein-related records directly from the estate rather than relying on the Department of Justice, which has missed a congressional deadline to release all Epstein files.
Harp, for his part, has denied that his actions amounted to doxxing, insisting that he withheld certain categories of personal data. In no way did I doxx the officer, he wrote in his Jan. 5 statement posted to social media. I did not post any personally identifying information about him, such as his birthday, social security number, home address, phone number, email address, the names of his family members, or pictures of his house.
However, the biography Harp posted did disclose the first name of the commanders wife, a detail that, combined with the officers full name, photograph, and unit affiliation, could significantly narrow the field for anyone seeking to locate the family. For lawmakers concerned with the safety of military households, that level of exposure is more than sufficient to constitute a serious security breach.
Harp has attempted to shift the focus away from his handling of the officers identity and toward his broader political allegations against the Trump administration and U.S. Special Operations. Nothing about this should distract from the larger Issue: Delta Force, acting on President Trumps unlawful orders invaded Venezuela, killed scores of Venezuelans who posed no threat to the United States, and kidnapped the Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, as well as his wife, he asserted in his statement.
In comments to The Washington Post, Harp framed his publication of the information as a protected journalistic act and dismissed the notion that he could be guilty of leaking classified material. The idea of a reporter leaking classified intel is a contradiction in terms, he told the paper on Thursday. The First Amendment and ironclad Supreme Court precedent permit journalists to publish classified documents. We dont work for the government and its our job to expose secrets, not protect them for the convenience of high-ranking officials.
Harp has also used his platform to launch sweeping attacks on Delta Force itself, casting aspersions on the character of the elite soldiers who carry out some of the nations most dangerous missions. In a Jan. 3 post, he described the unit as an organization filled with cokeheads and pervaded by drug trafficking, rhetoric that many Americans, particularly those with ties to the military, are likely to view as slanderous and deeply out of touch with the sacrifices made by Special Operations personnel.
The clash now unfolding in Congress highlights a fundamental tension between genuine investigative journalism and activism that appears to side with hostile regimes while exposing American warriors and their families to potential harm. Lawmakers from both parties, led by Luna and joined by Garcia, are signaling that while the First Amendment is vital, it does not absolve individuals of responsibility when they publicize sensitive details about clandestine operators in a way that may aid adversaries and undermine U.S. national security.
Login