US military IT specialist arrested for allegedly trying to leak secrets to foreign government

A civilian IT specialist at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) was arrested on Thursday in Northern Virginia for allegedly trying to hand over information to a foreign government agent. 

Nathan Vilas Laatsch, 28, has worked with the military agency’s Insider Threat Division since 2019, the Justice Department said. He allegedly reached out to a “friendly” government in March offering classified information, explaining that he did not “agree or align with the values” of the Trump administration.

The DIA specializes in foreign military intelligence and works closely with the top tiers of the Pentagon. 

Laatsch allegedly offered “completed intelligence products, some unprocessed intelligence, and other assorted classified documentation.” After communicating with an undercover FBI agent, Laatsch exfiltrated data from his workspace and transcribed classified information on a notepad at his desk, the Justice Department said. 

In early May, he allegedly dropped a thumb drive off at an agreed upon location, which contained “a decent sample size” of classified information, he wrote in a note, to give a sense of what he had access to. 

Soon thereafter, Laatsch allegedly wrote to the undercover officer asking for “citizenship for your country” since he didn’t “expect things here to improve in the long term.” 

After transcribing notes of classified material over a 12-day period in May, the DOJ said, Laatsch arranged another drop-off on May 29 in Northern Virginia, where he was arrested by the FBI. 

The arrest follows warnings from intelligence agencies about the potential recruitment of current and former government employees by foreign entities amid upheaval across the federal government. 

In February, CNN reported that Russia and China had ramped up recruitment of U.S. employees working on national security, or who were recently fired, and an analyst at the think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies uncovered a network of companies operated by a Chinese technology firm who were attempting to recruit newly laid off government employees. 

A few weeks later, in April, the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency and the FBI warned that foreign intelligence services — especially from China — were attempting to recruit people with a U.S. government background by posing as headhunters, consulting firms, think tanks and other organizations.

Following Laatsch’s arrest, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Rick Crawford (R-AR) expressed concern “about the number of counterintelligence threats penetrating all levels and branches of government.” 

“They are only increasing and becoming more persistent,” he claimed. “The removal of this traitor should be a warning to anyone seeking to disrupt the integrity of our intelligence institutions and keeps me encouraged that this cadre of IC [intelligence community] leadership will return our intelligence agencies back to their intended missions.