An IT specialist employed by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) has been arrested for attempting to transmit classified national security information to a foreign government.
Nathan Vilas Laatsch, 28, was arrested close to the nation’s capital and is scheduled to make his initial court appearance this week.
Laatsch became a civilian employee of the DIA in 2019 and held Top Secret security clearance in the Insider Threat Division.
In March, the FBI launched an investigation after receiving a tip that an individual offered classified information to a “friendly” foreign government.
The federal employee indicated in an email that he did not “agree or align with the values of this administration” and was therefore “willing to share classified information” to which he had access, including “completed intelligence products, some unprocessed intelligence, and other assorted classified documentation.”
Following communications with an undercover FBI agent, the anti-Trump employee began transcribing classified information to a notepad at his desk.
He then repeatedly leaked classified information from his workspace.
“Laatsch subsequently confirmed to the FBI agent that he was prepared to transmit the information,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia announced in a press release.
The FBI then organized an operation in a public park where Laatsch planned to deposit the classified information for the foreign government to retrieve.
“On May 1, FBI surveillance observed Laatsch proceed to the specified location and deposit an item. Following Laatsch’s departure, the FBI retrieved the item, which was a thumb drive later found to contain a message from Laatsch and multiple typed documents, each containing information that was portion-marked up to the Secret or Top Secret levels,” prosecutors said in the press release.
“The message from Laatsch indicated that he had chosen to include ‘a decent sample size’ of classified information to ‘decently demonstrate the range of types of products’ to which he had access.”
After receiving confirmation that the package had been received, he again contacted the undercover FBI agent and asked for compensation.
The following day, Laatsch indicated that he was interested in obtaining citizenship in the unnamed country because he did not “expect[] things here to improve in the long term.”
Although he said he was “not opposed to other compensation,” he was not in a position where he needed to seek material compensation.
Additional meetings were set up by agents after Laatsch agreed to share more classified information.
On May 29, Laatsch arrived at a prearranged location in northern Virginia, where he attempted to transmit multiple classified documents to the foreign country.
FBI agents arrested Laatsch, and formal charges are forthcoming.
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