Politics
JUST IN: Anti-Trump Federal Employee Arrested For Leaking Classified Intel To Foreign Power
An IT specialist employed by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) was arrested Thursday for attempting to transmit classified national security information to an officer or agent of a foreign government.
Nathan Vilas Laatsch, 28, of Alexandria, Virginia was arrested not far from the nation’s capital and is scheduled to make his initial court appearance tomorrow. According to court documents, Laatsch became a civilian employee of the DIA in 2019 and worked in the Insider Threat Division, a position that comes with a Top Secret security clearance.
The FBI launched an investigation back in March after receiving a tip that an individual — now identified as Laatsch — offered to provide classified information to a “friendly” foreign government. In an email, the federal employee indicated that 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.”
After multiple communications with an undercover FBI agent, whom Laatsch believed to be an official of the currently unnamed foreign government, the anti-Trump employee began transcribing classified information to a notepad at his desk. Over the course of the next three days, he 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 believed he would 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 detailed 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 on May 7, he again contacted the undercover FBI agent and asked for compensation in order to continue providing classified information. The next 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.”
Agents set up additional meetings after Laatsch agreed to share more classified information, which he did between May 15 and May 27. On May 29, Laatsch arrived at a prearranged location in northern Virginia, where Laatsch again allegedly attempted to transmit multiple classified documents to the foreign country.
Laatsch was arrested upon the FBI’s receipt of the documents, and formal charges are forthcoming.
