Kyle Owen Brennan, the 40-year-old son of former CIA Director John Brennan, was arrested Friday, November 13, in Virginia and charged with transportation of child pornography after federal investigators allegedly discovered dozens of sexually explicit images involving minors on his cellphone.

According to a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, an FBI examination of Brennan's iPhone uncovered approximately 88 images that appeared to depict underage girls, including prepubescent children, engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The charge carries a potential sentence of five to 20 years in federal prison if he is convicted.

The investigation began in April and June 2024, when software company Adobe submitted two reports to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children after detecting suspected child sexual abuse material uploaded through an account later linked to Brennan. One of the reported images was subsequently connected to a 12-year-old girl.

Authorities traced the account to Brennan through digital records and investigated the uploads. The Fauquier County Sheriff's Office and Warrenton Police Department searched Brennan's Virginia residence in July 2024 and seized his cellphone and other personal property.

The investigation was referred to the FBI in October 2026. Federal investigators subsequently obtained authorization to examine the phone's contents, leading to the discovery of the additional images described in the criminal complaint.

Brennan was arrested at his workplace in Herndon, Virginia, and made an initial appearance in federal court in Alexandria on Friday. He remained in federal custody pending a detention hearing scheduled for Wednesday, November 18. An attorney for Brennan did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

His father, John Brennan, served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 2013 to 2017 under President Barack Obama. The former intelligence chief has been a vocal critic of President Donald Trump and is separately under investigation by the Justice Department over allegations connected to his statements about the intelligence community's assessment of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

John Brennan has denied wrongdoing in that separate investigation, and prosecutors have not filed criminal charges against him. A spokesperson for the former CIA director declined to comment on his son's arrest, according to Reuters.

The federal case against Kyle Brennan is separate from the Justice Department's investigation involving his father. The allegations against the younger Brennan have not been established in court.