DOJ threatens criminal prosecution if publisher proceeds with Zachary Young spy memoir
FIRST ON FOX — The Department of Justice has threatened legal action and potential criminal prosecution if book giant HarperCollins proceeds with a planned spy memoir by Zachary Young, but the CIA-trained U.S. Navy veteran blasted the warning as "a blatant intimidation tactic."
Young, who beat CNN in a defamation lawsuit last year, has since teamed up with "American Sniper" co-author Scott McEwen for a memoir called "American Spy" for a book about his career working undercover in hostile environments and operating in the hidden world of international espionage.
Young, who signed a nondisclosure agreement during his time with the CIA, insists he informed his former employer that "American Spy" wouldn’t contain classified information and pointed out his involvement with the agency was already part of the public trial record after the CIA confirmed his background to CNN reporters.
However, the DOJ denied permission and ordered him to delete the manuscript altogether.
"It has come to the attention of this office that Mr. Zachary S. Young has prepared a draft manuscript which he intends for publication, and that the subject of this manuscript includes classified or other sensitive national security information. I write to inform you that Mr. Young is prohibited from publishing or disclosing this classified or sensitive national security information, which was known to him while he was employed with the United States," DOJ Federal Programs Branch Director Alexander Haas wrote in a June 26 letter obtained by Fox News Digital.
Haas wrote that Young is required to obtain permission from the United States before publishing or disclosing any information related to his former employment but failed to receive authorization and has been instructed to delete all copies of his "unapproved manuscript."
Haas noted that "Young agreed to comply with the provisions specified in a secrecy agreement both during his employment and following the termination of such employment for the rest of his life," and the Navy veteran is therefore "legally obligated to submit any writing covered by this secrecy agreement that he intends to disclose or publish to the relevant prepublication review entity directed by the United States."
"Proceeding with publication without providing the United States with the opportunity to review the manuscript potentially threatens national security," Haas wrote. "Failure to comply with the required prepublication review process and/or making prohibited disclosures of information subject to the applicable secrecy agreement may force the United States to seek additional measures, including, but not limited to, civil suits and referral of this matter to appropriate officials to consider criminal prosecution."
The Justice Department also made it clear that it plans to stop Young from profiting off the planned memoir.
Haas concluded the letter by stating, "At a minimum, well-established legal authority would entitle the United States to a constructive trust over all proceeds earned by Mr. Young in connection with an unauthorized publication or disclosure of information in breach of his secrecy agreements."
Young said that HarperCollins informed him Tuesday that it won’t move forward with the project until things are sorted out with the DOJ and CIA. But Young is furious and believes he has complied and hasn’t even been told what exactly the agency objects to.
"DOJ's letter was a blatant intimidation tactic, and it worked exactly as intended on my publisher. It won't work on me. I have cooperated with this process in good faith, and I take my NDA obligations seriously, but it is impossible to comply with a review process when the Agency refuses to identify a single passage they claim is classified," Young told Fox News Digital.
"The whole purpose of the prepublication review process is to work with former officers so mistakes don't happen. That's why I cooperated with it from the start and why I still want to. But that hasn't been the agency's position at all," Young continued. "Their position has been to shut everything down, presumably because they're embarrassed, and then threaten me and my publisher with lawsuits and criminal exposure. That's not good faith review. That's coercion."
Young said what "makes this especially hard to swallow" is that NewsBusters reported that the person who served as CIA public affairs director when Young’s affiliation was confirmed to then-CNN correspondent Alex Marquardt had previously worked for CNN from January 2017 to January 2020.
"That is a matter of record, proven in documents, and it happened before any of the CNN litigation began. The agency knew about the CNN trial and chose not to get involved, and now everything is publicly available," Young said.
"At this point, I don't think this is about classification at all," he continued. "I think it is about internal embarrassment."
The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
JURY FINDS CNN COMMITTED DEFAMATION AGAINST NAVY VETERAN, SETTLEMENT REACHED ON PUNITIVE DAMAGES
Young successfully alleged that CNN smeared him by implying he illegally profited when helping people flee Afghanistan on the "black market" during the Biden administration's military withdrawal from the country in 2021. During the trial, Young outlined his extensive training in tactics such as "brush passes" and other sophisticated ways to exchange sensitive information in hostile areas without being detected.
In 2025, a six-person jury decided Young was owed $4 million in lost earnings and $1 million in personal damages such as pain and suffering and said punitive damages were warranted against CNN. An undisclosed settlement was reached before punitive damages were decided by the jury.
"It was never my intention to write a book. I was never seeking attention. The last thing I ever wanted was to be dragged into litigation with one of the largest media entities on the planet, fight them for three years and have everything from my past dragged into the light. But I did," Young said.
HarperCollins did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.