A Department of Energy electrical engineer was arrested for allegedly buying bomb-making chemicals and drone gear to help Iran-backed Houthis, charges federal officials call deeply disturbing.

Just The News reported that federal authorities arrested Ashton Hamed Ellaboudy, a Department of Energy employee in Washington state, on charges of attempting to provide material support or resources to the Houthis. He has not entered a plea and faced an initial appearance before a federal magistrate. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg laid out the core claim in blunt terms.

Eisenberg said:

"A U.S. government employee traveled overseas and used his specialized expertise in an attempt to aid the Houthis, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization backed by Iran."

Fox News reported that Ellaboudy, 51, of Richland, Washington, is a DOE worker who allegedly used his electrical engineering background to help with Houthi mobile communications, secure drone components, and obtain chemicals for homemade explosives. He was scheduled for an initial court appearance on Oct. 2 in Richland.

The Justice Department case does not describe a paper threat. It describes a U.S. government employee who, prosecutors say, crossed into Houthi-held territory, lied about official travel, and then worked with what he thought was a Houthi contact on gear that could move bombs and keep fighters talking.

Court records put him in Oman, then Yemen

Court records cited in the reporting allege Ellaboudy traveled to Oman in 2024 before crossing into Houthi-occupied Yemen. On his return, he allegedly told U.S. officials he had gone to the Middle East on official government business. His supervisor said he had no authorized official travel to that region.

The New York Post reported that Ellaboudy is a Department of Energy electrical engineer from Richland who allegedly bought precursor chemicals for homemade explosives and drone parts, traveled to Yemen, and advised on communications equipment. He also allegedly told border officials he was on a U.S. government missile defense inspection mission, a claim his supervisor denied knowing anything about.

That travel story matters because it goes to access and cover. A federal employee with specialized engineering skills is not a random recruit. He is someone who already holds a government badge and technical training taxpayers paid for.

Readers tracking White House fights over enforcement and national security will recognize the stakes in cases like this, much as they do when courts weigh deportation fights over anti-Israel activism.

The Justice Department said an investigation found Ellaboudy communicated with an FBI confidential human source who claimed to work for a Houthi “Colonel.” The goal, prosecutors say, was communications equipment for a mobile communications center in Yemen.

Ellaboudy allegedly gave expert advice and assistance based on his electrical engineering background. He helped test and modify solar power generators and communication equipment, offered guidance on how the power and communication systems integrated, provided schematics and diagrams for setup, and pointed to other gear that could strengthen Houthi communications.

Explosives precursors and drone parts entered the picture

Eisenberg did not stop at the overseas travel. He also tied Ellaboudy to bomb-making materials.

Eisenberg said:

"Additionally, Ellaboudy acquired materials for the construction of explosive material and drones capable of delivering these explosives."

Breitbart reported that Ellaboudy, 51, a DOE electrical engineer at Hanford, was arrested for allegedly supplying aid to the Houthis, including chemicals and materials for homemade explosives and drone components. He allegedly traveled to Yemen via Oman using an official passport without authorization and faces up to 20 years.

Homemade explosives and delivery drones are not abstract talking points. They are the tools of attacks on shipping, energy infrastructure, and U.S. and allied forces in the region. A U.S. employee helping arm that network turns a foreign terror problem into an insider-security failure.

Accountability stories around federal power often run through the same Energy Department bureaucracy, including disputes over green-energy grant decisions and political targeting claims.

The Washington Examiner reported that Ellaboudy, 51, of Richland, was charged with attempting to provide material support to the Houthis after allegedly acquiring materials for homemade explosives and drones and trying to improve the group’s communications. The DOJ alleges he traveled to Yemen intending to visit the Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa.

The Houthis are a designated foreign terrorist organization backed by Iran, according to the Justice Department’s own framing of the case. That designation is not a media label. It is the legal basis for the material-support charge that can put a defendant away for two decades.

Federal officials call the case almost beyond belief

Eisenberg closed with a judgment that matches the record prosecutors describe.

He said:

"These allegations are so deeply disturbing that they almost defy imagination."

The public still lacks some basics the charging papers may later fill in: Ellaboudy’s exact job title inside DOE, the specific chemicals and parts named in the purchase trail, and the full docket details. What is already on the table is enough. A federal engineer allegedly bought bomb precursors, worked drone components, crossed into Houthi territory under a false official-travel story, and coached communications gear for a terror group.

Cases built on material support and political violence keep landing in courtrooms, from terror designations to jury verdicts that refuse to treat organized attacks as street theater, including the international fallout tracked in coverage of Antifa convictions moving beyond U.S. borders.

Ellaboudy was expected to appear before a federal magistrate after the Thursday arrest. He has not entered a plea. The charge is attempt to provide material support or resources to the Houthis. The maximum exposure is 20 years.

That sequence is the opposite of a paperwork glitch. It is a security system that employs a man with engineering skills, issues travel credentials he allegedly misused, and then has to rely on an undercover FBI operation to stop him from feeding a terror network with know-how and hardware.

White House and national-security fights over foreign pressure and institutional double standards remain a constant backdrop for readers who also follow when Trump pushes back against U.N. human-rights officials.

Taxpayers fund the Department of Energy to secure American energy and technical capacity, not to incubate expertise for Iran’s proxies. When a DOE engineer is charged with shopping for explosives precursors and coaching Houthi communications, the failure is not theoretical. It is a badge, a passport, and a skill set pointed the wrong way.

A government that cannot keep its own engineers from allegedly arming a designated terror group has already failed the first test of national security: knowing who is on the payroll and what they are doing with the training America paid for.