WASHINGTON (AP) – A specialist in information technology for the Defense Intelligence Agency was charged on Thursday for an attempt to give classified information to a representative of a foreign government, the Ministry of Justice said.
Public Prosecutors say that Nathan Vilas Laatsch, 28, from Alexandria, Virginia, was arrested at a location where he had arrested to deposit sensitive data to a person he thought was an official of a foreign government, but who was actually an undercover FBI agent. The identity of the Laatsch country thought he was in communication, was not announced, but the Ministry of Justice described it as a friendly or allied nation.
It was not immediately clear whether Lastsch, who would appear a court on Friday, had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.
The Ministry of Justice said that her investigation into Lastsch started in March after officials had received a tip he had offered to provide classified information to another nation. Letsch wrote in his e -mail that he “disagreed or was in accordance with the values of this administration” and was willing to send sensitive materials, including intelligence documents, to which he had access, said prosecutors.
An undercover agent contacted Lossch, who started to transcribe classified information to a notebook and made plans to drop off information that the foreign government representative could collect in a park.
With one drop-off this month, say public prosecutors, Litsch left a thumb drive with several typed documents that have been marked as the secret and highest secret levels. In exchange, the prosecutors say, Laatsch said that he was interested in obtaining citizenship from that country because he did not expect “things here to improve in the long term.”
He was arrested on Thursday at an agreed location after making extra plans for a drop-off.
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