An Energy Department electrical engineer from Richland, Washington, was arrested Thursday and charged with attempting to provide material support to the Houthis, the Iran-backed rebel movement in Yemen that the United States has designated a foreign terrorist organization. Ashton Hamed Ellaboudy, 51, is expected in court Friday for an initial appearance before a federal magistrate judge in Richland at 11 a.m.
The FBI says its inquiry began after investigators learned he had bought acetone, sodium bisulfate and other precursor chemicals commonly used in homemade explosives. He had also purchased parts used to build drones and remotely operated aerial systems, the Justice Department said. The complaint alleges that in December 2024 the bureau learned he had taken sick leave from his job, saying he had been exposed to highly concentrated nitric acid, a chemical commonly used in making explosives.
In September 2025, prosecutors say, he traveled from Richland to Oman on an official passport issued to him when he worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He then used the same passport to cross into Yemen, intending to travel on to Sanaa, the capital, which the Houthis control. An FBI affidavit says he was recorded telling informants that he had to be smuggled into and out of the country and that he had hoped to get to the capital to make government-level connections. He never reached Sanaa, according to the bureau.
When he came home, he told Customs and Border Protection officers that he had been abroad on official government business, the Justice Department said. Authorities say he told the officers he was returning from a work trip to Oman and was part of a U.S. government mission to inspect defense facilities, the AP reported. But his supervisor told investigators he knew of no international travel and of no Energy Department missile inspection program that Ellaboudy would have been part of, an FBI affidavit says. Information from the supervisor showed he had no authorized official travel to the region, prosecutors said.
During the investigation, Ellaboudy began communicating with a confidential FBI source who claimed to be working for a Houthi "colonel" to obtain communications equipment that would be sent to Yemen for a mobile communications center. Drawing on his background in electrical engineering, he helped the source test and modify solar power generators and communications gear, according to the Justice Department. He also explained how the power and communications systems fit together, supplied schematics and diagrams for setting them up and researched other equipment that could strengthen the Houthis' communications, the department said. The FBI says he was in touch with multiple informants during the inquiry, the AP reported.
"As alleged, a U.S. government employee traveled overseas and used his specialized expertise in an attempt to aid the Houthis," said John A. Eisenberg, the assistant attorney general for national security. Eisenberg said Ellaboudy had also acquired materials for making explosives and drones capable of delivering them, calling the allegations "so deeply disturbing that they almost defy imagination."
Jarod Brown, an assistant director in the FBI's Counterterrorism Division, said Ellaboudy "allegedly betrayed the U.S." and credited the men and women of the FBI with detecting his actions. The FBI's Seattle office confirmed that a law enforcement operation in Richland at about 9 a.m. Thursday was connected to the investigation, Apple Valley News Now reported.
The Energy Department's office in Richland manages the Hanford nuclear site, which was established as part of the Manhattan Project during World War II and is still being cleaned up after decades of Cold War plutonium processing. Ray Geimer, who manages the department's Hanford Field Office, said the case did not involve an attempt to harm the site or its workforce and that its safety and security were never threatened.
Ellaboudy is charged under the federal law that makes it a crime to provide material support to a group the United States has designated a foreign terrorist organization, and he faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Court records do not list an attorney who could speak on his behalf, the AP reported. The charges in the complaint are allegations, and he is presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.