Intelligence agency employee arrested for trying to share classified info with foreign government
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Nathan Vilas Laatsch was allegedly disgruntled by the Trump administration and willing to share sensitive data with the foreign country. The FBI set up a dead drop operation to intercept the classified materials.
A Defense Intelligence Agency employee was arrested Thursday for allegedly attempting to share classified information with a foreign government, the Justice Department said in a press release and court filings.
Civilian IT specialist Nathan Vilas Laatsch allegedly offered up classified intelligence products to an unnamed foreign government after the FBI received a tip about his interest in doing so, according to documents, which note that the government was a friendly nation.
He wrote to an email account associated with the foreign nation that the “recent actions of the current administration are extremely disturbing to me” and that “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.” The email he sent also included attachments of government identification cards.
The FBI planned a dead drop operation at a public park in Arlington, Virginia, earlier this month to intercept a deposit of classified information that Laatsch believed a foreign representative would retrieve, the filings say.
After several exchanges with an undercover FBI agent posing as a foreign official, Laatsch — who held a Top Secret security clearance — allegedly began copying classified materials by hand at his desk. Over the course of three days, he removed the information from his secure workspace and later confirmed his intent to transmit the material.
On May 1, Laatsch was seen by FBI surveillance dropping off a thumb drive at the public park, believing the foreign government would collect it. The drive contained multiple documents marked Secret and Top Secret, along with a note from Laatsch stating he had provided “a decent sample size” to show the range of intelligence products he could access.
An attorney for Laatsch was not immediately available.
“I’ve given a lot of thought to this before any outreach, and despite the risks, the calculus has not changed. I do not see the trajectory of things changing, and do not think it is appropriate or right to do nothing when I am in this position,” he allegedly wrote unwittingly to the FBI agent tasked with covertly speaking to him.
DIA video monitoring near Laatsch’s desk shows he began transcribing classified information at his computer on April 28, court filings allege. Between May 16 and May 27, 2025, Laatsch was repeatedly observed copying classified information onto multiple pages of notes while logged into his DIA workstation. At the end of each day, he folded the pages and appeared to hide them in his socks before leaving the office. Multiple pages also appear to have been placed in the bottom compartment of his lunchbox.
He arrived May 29 at an FBI pre-arranged location in northern Virginia, aiming to transmit more documents, where he was arrested.
“The conduct alleged in this case is a profound betrayal of the American people and a direct threat to our national security,” Sue Bai, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, said in a statement. “When someone entrusted with access to classified information attempts to provide it to a foreign government, it jeopardizes our intelligence capabilities, our military advantage, and the safety of our nation.”