The US Justice Department said on Thursday that agents have arrested a government employee accused of providing material support to Yemen's Houthi rebels.
Ashton Ellaboudy, a veteran who worked in the local branch of the Department of Energy in Washington state, was taken into custody and is expected to appear in court on Friday.
Mr Ellaboudy is accused of travelling overseas and using his "specialised expertise" to aid the Houthis, who were designated as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US, the Justice Department said.
He is also accused of acquiring materials to build explosives that could be attached to attack drones, as well as assisting "the terrorist group improve its communications".
"These allegations are so deeply disturbing that they almost defy imagination," John Eisenberg, assistant attorney general for national security, said in a statement.
The Department of Energy Hanford Field Office in Washington said Mr Ellaboudy's alleged activities did not involve an attempt to harm the site or its workforce.
The Justice Department statement said that he came to the attention of the FBI after it received information that he had "purchased precursor chemicals, components, and other materials commonly used in the construction of homemade explosive devices".
The complaint claims that in December 2024, Mr Ellaboudy took sick leave from his office, saying that he had been exposed to a chemical commonly used in the construction of explosive materials.
"In September 2025, Ellaboudy, using an official passport previously issued to him when employed by the US Army Corps of Engineers, travelled from Richland, Washington to Oman," the statement says. "Upon arriving in Oman, Ellaboudy used this same passport to cross the border into Yemen with the intent of travelling to Sanaa, Yemen, the country’s capital, which is under the control of the Houthis."
He allegedly began communicating with a high-ranking member of the Houthis, who was actually an FBI source and with whom he discussed acquiring and fitting out communications equipment for the group in Yemen.
If convicted, Mr Ellaboudy faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
