An IT specialist employed by the Defense Intelligence Agency was arrested Thursday and charged with attempting to provide classified information to a friendly foreign government, the Justice Department announced.
The FBI said it began an investigation into 28-year-old Nathan Laatsch in March after receiving a tip he offered to provide classified information to a foreign government because — according to the tipster — Laatsch did not “agree or align with the values of this administration” and was willing to share “completed intelligence products, some unprocessed intelligence, and other assorted classified documentation.”
The foreign country Laatsch is accused of trying to contact is not identified in court documents.
In communications with an undercover agent with the FBI, posing as an emissary of the foreign country, Laatsch is alleged to have transcribed classified information into a notepad at his desk over a three-day period that he told the agent he was ready to provide.
Video from inside the DIA facility where Laatsch worked showed him writing multiple pages of notes, which he folded into squares and hid in his socks, according to an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Another DIA employee saw Laatsch placing multiple notebook pages in the bottom of his lunchbox, according to the affidavit.
The FBI then conducted an operation on May 1 in which Laatsch agreed to drop the classified information via thumb drive at a designated spot in a public park in northern Virginia, according to the charging documents.
The drive allegedly contained information that was designated at both the Secret and Top Secret classification levels. Laatsch contacted the agent roughly a week later and said he was interested in citizenship to the unnamed country because he did not “expect things here to improve in the long term.”
Laatsch again then allegedly attempted to prepare classified information to provide to the agent and in an operation earlier Thursday, he arrived at a location in northern Virginia where he was taken into custody.
Laatsch’s arrest comes amid broader concern among current and former intelligence officials that individuals with access to high-value classified information may use the current moment of disarray and consternation in the intel community to try and sell information to foreign governments for profit.
Laatsch, who was hired by the Defense Intelligence Agency in August 2019, most recently worked as a data scientist and IT specialist for information security in the agency’s Insider Threat Division, according to court documents.
Online court records do not yet list an attorney for Laatsch.
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