A Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) information technology specialist with top security clearance has been accused of attempting to provide classified national defense information to what he believed was a foreign government. The civilian employee, Nathan Villas Laatsch, allegedly took this action due to his dissatisfaction with the Trump administration, according to a Justice Department press release and an arrest affidavit.
Laatsch, who worked within the DIA’s Insider Threat Division, corresponded with an individual he believed to be an agent of a foreign government. However, this individual was actually an undercover FBI agent. The specific foreign government involved was not identified in the documents.
The investigation into Laatsch’s activities began in March of this year after the FBI received an email from a sender offering classified information to a “friendly foreign government.” The sender, later identified as Laatsch, used the subject line: “Outreach from USA Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Officer.”
In the email, Laatsch reportedly stated his role at the DIA and expressed his discontent with the current administration’s actions, writing, “The recent actions of the current administration are extremely disturbing to me … I do not agree or align with the values of this administration and intend to act to support the values that the United States at one time stood for.” He further offered to share classified intelligence products, unprocessed intelligence, and other classified documentation, claiming “intimate knowledge of how DIA tracks and monitors user activity.”
The emails included a username for an encrypted messaging platform and images of two federal ID cards used to access workspaces. Although identifying information was redacted from the photos, investigators were able to locate Laatsch as the suspect based on other information provided.
Laatsch, 28, of Alexandria, Virginia, began his employment with the DIA in 2019. His role as a data scientist and IT specialist in information security involved assisting law enforcement with “insider threat tools” and granting him access to “highly compartmentalized classified programs.” He was required to sign a lifetime non-disclosure agreement acknowledging potential criminal penalties for unauthorized disclosure of protected information.
Communication between Laatsch and the undercover FBI agent intensified in April. Laatsch allegedly dismissed concerns about his actions by stating his belief that the government’s trajectory would not change and that he felt it was his duty to act.
He is accused of transcribing classified information from his computer to a notepad at his desk and then surreptitiously removing the information from work over approximately three days, even concealing folded papers in his socks.
On May 1st, Laatsch allegedly conducted a “dead drop operation” in an Arlington park, leaving a thumb drive containing the transcribed information. About a week later, he reportedly requested citizenship from the unnamed foreign country, expressing his pessimism about long-term improvements in the U.S.
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