ABC News investigative producer disappears after FBI raid, was working on book about Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal

An award-winning ABC News national security investigative producer has seemingly gone missing following an FBI raid on his home in April for unclear reasons. James Gordon Meek was in the process of writing a book on the Biden administration's controversial withdrawal from Afghanistan when his neighbors spotted armored vehicles outside of his home, and he hasn't been heard from since.

Meek, 52, was best known for his breaking news stories on high levels of corruption within the US military. His bombshell report of the Army’s coverup of the fratricidal death of Pfc. Dave Sharrett II in Iraq landed Meek a meeting with then-President Obama. He seemed to be at the height of his career, with nine years at ABC, a newly-released documentary on Hulu, and a book on the way. That's why so many are baffled at his mysterious and uncharacteristically abrupt disappearance.

It was on April 27 of this year when police cruisers and unmarked utility vehicles were spotted blocking the street outside of Meek's Arlington, Virginia apartment building, according to a Rolling Stone report. That was around the time of his last online activity, with one last "like" being sent from his Twitter account on May 2. Since then, he's been silent.

An FBI representative confirmed that agents were present that morning "at the 2300 block of Columbia Pike, Arlington, Virginia, conducting court-authorized law-enforcement activity." 

"The FBI cannot comment further due to an ongoing investigation," they said.

A federal magistrate judge signed off on the search warrant the day before the raid. In accordance with a new policy enacted last year, federal prosecutors are not allowed to seize journalists' documents without approval from the Deputy Attorney General, meaning that Biden-appointed Lisa Monaco had to have given her blessing if that's what the raid was for.

Despite the bureau's involvement, Meek has not been charged with any crime. 

Anonymous sources claimed to Rolling Stone that federal agents found classified information on Meek's laptop, but the contents of said information are unknown at this time. His lawyer, Eugene Gorokhov, responded to the claims.

"Mr. Meek is unaware of what allegations anonymous sources are making about his possession of classified documents. If such documents exist, as claimed, this would be within the scope of his long career as an investigative journalist covering government wrongdoing. The allegations in your inquiry are troubling for a different reason: they appear to come from a source inside the government. It is highly inappropriate, and illegal, for individuals in the government to leak information about an ongoing investigation. We hope that the DOJ [Department of Justice] promptly investigates the source of this leak." 

Still, no comment on where exactly his client is.

Another troubling aspect of the raid and Meek's subsequent disappearance is that he was in the middle of putting together a book, titled Operation Pineapple Express: The Incredible Story of a Group of Americans Who Undertook One Last Mission and Honored a Promise in Afghanistan. The story of the Biden administration's botched military pull-out of Afghanistan was being co-authored with retired Green Beret Lt. Col. Scott Mann. Now, Meek's involvement has been scrubbed from Simon & Schuster's promotional materials and social media.

The book was published in August without the ABC producer. According to Mann, he last heard from Meek in spring.

"He contacted me in the spring, and was really distraught, and told me that he had some serious personal issues going on and that he needed to withdraw from the project," Mann said. "As a guy who's a combat veteran who has seen that kind of strain — I don't know what it was — I honored it. And he went on his way, and I continued on the project."

Meek's colleagues at ABC are just as in the dark on his whereabouts as anyone else. 

"He fell off the face of the Earth," said one coworker. "And people asked, but no one knew the answer."

A representative of ABC said, "He resigned very abruptly and hasn't worked for us for months," with no further information.

According to a neighbor who lived on the same floor, Meek also has two daughters who were living with him. It is unclear what happened to them as well, as his apartment is reportedly now vacant.