A former U.S. intelligence analyst was arrested and charged with providing classified information to a reporter at the Intercept in 2014 about U.S. counterterrorism operations including against al Qaeda, amid a widening U.S. crackdown on media leaks.

Daniel Hale, who is 31 years old, provided the reporter with 17 documents he obtained while working for Leidos, a defense contractor, prosecutors alleged in an indictment obtained in March and unsealed Thursday. The information Mr. Hale shared included documents about terrorism...