Washington (AP) – A specialist in information technology for Defense Intelligence Agency was charged on Thursday to have tried to transmit classified information to a representative of a foreign government, said the Ministry of Justice.
Prosecutors say that Nathan Vilas Laatsch, 28, of Alexandria, Virginia, was arrested in a place where he had organized to file files sensitive to a person he thought was a civil servant of a foreign government, but who was in fact an infiltration agent of the FBI. The identity of the country which Laatsch thought of it was in communication was not disclosed, but the Ministry of Justice described it as a friendly or ally nation.
He was not immediately clear if Laatsch, who was to appear in court on Friday, had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.
The Ministry of Justice said its investigation into Laatsch began in March after the officials had received a council which he had proposed to provide classified information to another nation. Laatsch wrote in his email that he “did not agree or did not align himself on the values of this administration” and was willing to transmit sensitive materials, including intelligence documents, to which he had access, prosecutors said.
An infiltration agent contacted Laatsch, who began to transcribe classified information to a notebook and planned to file information that the representative of the foreign government could pick up in a park.
During a deposit this month, the prosecutors say, Laatsch left behind a USB key containing several typed documents marked at the secret and top secret levels. In return, according to the prosecutors, Laatsch said he was interested in obtaining citizenship of this country because he did not plan “things here to improve in the long term”.
He was arrested Thursday in a pre-animated location after making additional plans for a drop.
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