FBI arrests US Energy Department employee for attempting to support Houthis

Federal agents in Washington state have arrested a US Department of Energy electrical engineer, accusing him of attempting to provide material support to the Iran-backed Houthi rebel group in Yemen.

Ashton Hamed Ellaboudy, 51, was arrested on Thursday morning during an FBI-led raid in Richland, Washington. Prosecutors say the engineer used his technical background to advise the group on communications systems, purchased drone parts and chemical precursors for homemade explosives, and even travelled to Yemen to offer direct assistance.

According to an FBI affidavit, Ellaboudy took sick leave in December 2024, claiming he had been exposed to highly concentrated nitric acid—a chemical frequently used in bomb-making. Then, in September 2025, he allegedly used an official passport from a previous job with the US Army Corps of Engineers to travel through Oman and cross the border into Yemen.

His goal was to reach the Houthi-controlled capital of Sanaa to establish high-level contacts, the FBI said. Though he was smuggled into the country, he was ultimately unable to reach the capital.

The cover story falls apart

When he returned to the US, Ellaboudy allegedly told Customs and Border Protection officers that he was coming back from an official government mission to inspect missile defence systems. However, investigators interviewed his supervisor at the Department of Energy, who said he had no knowledge of any international travel or any such missile inspection programme.

The FBI's Inland Northwest Joint Terrorism Task Force had already begun tracking him after flagging his purchases of acetone, sodium bisulfate, and drone parts. Once under surveillance, Ellaboudy began talking to undercover FBI informants, including one who posed as a Houthi colonel.

Prosecutors claim Ellaboudy used his engineering expertise to help the informants test and modify solar power generators and communication equipment intended for a mobile Houthi operations centre. He allegedly drew up schematics, provided diagrams, and recommended other gear for the group to buy.

What happens next

If convicted, Ellaboudy faces up to 20 years in prison. He was scheduled to make his first court appearance on Friday. Court records do not yet list an attorney who can speak on his behalf.

Local officials moved quickly to reassure the public. An office manager at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Field Office in Richland said the plot did not involve any attempt to harm the Hanford nuclear reservation or its workforce, and that there was never any threat to the site's safety.

"These allegations are so deeply disturbing that they almost defy imagination," said John Eisenberg, the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s National Security Division, in a statement following the arrest.