WASHINGTON -- Federal prosecutors in Connecticut charged a former U.S. navy sailor with giving military secrets to Islamic extremists.

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PDF: Abujihaad Complaint (53 Pages)

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Former sailor Hassan Abujihaad is charged with material support for terror after the FBI says he emailed information about his warship movements to a jihadist website back in 2001.

Investigators say the information that was leaked could have been used "in preparation to kill U.S. nationals."

Abujihaad, 31, was assigned to the U.S.S. Benfold until his discharge in 2002. Investigators say email records show he communicated with two men who ran radical websites "Azzem Publications" from 1997 through 2005.

Those two men Babar Ahmed and Syed Talha Ahsan were arrested in Britain and are awaiting extradition back to Connecticut on federal material support for terrorism charges.

The case is being prosecuted in New Haven because computer servers allegedly used to transmit some of the information are based there.

Abujihaad was arrested at his Pheonix, Arizona home and is being held without bail.

Investigators said while serving on board the USS Benfold he emailed "Azzam" revealing the ship was leaving California to support the hunt for Al Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan.

The FBI says Abujihaad in emails from his ship to the Azzam website praised Bin Laden and called the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole "a martydom operation."

After Ahsan and Ahmed were arrested in Britain, investigators say Abujihaad destroyed jihadist videos and other materials on his home computer.

If convicted, Abujihaad could face up to 25 years in prison on the charges of leaking of classified defense material to extremists.