XPost: alt.security.espionage, alt.government.employees, sac.politics
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https://abcnews.go.com/US/intelligence-agency-specialist-charged- attempting-provide-classified-information/story?id=122329650
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," according to the documents.
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,
according to the documents.
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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November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump. We look
forward to America being great again.
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.
Every day is an IQ test. Some pass, some, not so much.
Thank you for cleaning up the disasters of the 2008-2017, 2020-2024 Obama
/ Biden / Harris fiascos, President Trump.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
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