DIA employee arrested over alleged classified information transfer

What happened

A US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) employee was arrested in northern Virginia on 29 May 2025 on suspicion of trying to pass national defence information to a foreign government, the US Department of Justice said.

Nathan Vilas Laatsch, 28, of Alexandria, allegedly supplied classified material to an FBI agent whom he believed represented that government. The department described the country as friendly to the United States but did not identify it.

According to court documents summarised in the department’s announcement, Laatsch worked as an IT specialist in the DIA’s Insider Threat Division and held a Top Secret security clearance. He had been a civilian employee of the agency since 2019.

Prosecutors allege that he removed classified information from his workplace on several occasions, including by copying it into handwritten notes and carrying those notes out in his clothing.

The account comes from a Justice Department announcement published by the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. The allegations have not been proved in court, and Laatsch is presumed innocent.

The background

The FBI began its operation in March 2025 after receiving a tip about an email offering classified material to a foreign government. Investigators identified the sender as Laatsch, according to the department.

Following several exchanges with the undercover agent, Laatsch allegedly copied classified information into a notepad at his desk. Prosecutors say he took information out of his workspace repeatedly over about three days before telling the agent it was ready for delivery.

The FBI then arranged a drop-off at a public park in northern Virginia. On 1 May, surveillance officers watched Laatsch leave an item at the agreed location, according to the announcement.

After he left, agents recovered a USB drive containing a message and several typed documents. Prosecutors said portions of those documents carried Secret or Top Secret classification markings, which identify the sensitivity of particular sections of information.

On 14 May, the undercover agent told Laatsch that more classified material could be accepted. Between 15 and 27 May, he allegedly copied several pages of notes while using his classified workstation, folded them and concealed them in his clothing to remove them.

The arrest followed another planned handover on 29 May. The department said Laatsch arrived at an agreed location in northern Virginia and was detained after the FBI received further documents.

The alleged method is relevant to insider-risk work because it involved information available through an employee’s existing access, rather than an outsider breaking into a system. Copying material onto paper also illustrates how information can move between digital systems and physical objects; the announcement does not explain which workplace safeguards were in place or whether any generated alerts.

What people are saying

The Justice Department said the initial email linked the offer to the sender’s disagreement with the administration’s values. According to its account, the sender offered finished intelligence reports, intelligence that had not yet been processed and other classified records.

The department said the message recovered with the USB drive described its contents as a selection intended to show the variety of intelligence material Laatsch could access.

On 7 May, after being told the drive had been received, Laatsch allegedly indicated that he wanted something in exchange for further disclosures. Prosecutors said he specified the following day that he wanted citizenship in the foreign country because he was pessimistic about the longer-term situation in the United States.

According to the department, Laatsch also indicated that he would consider other compensation but did not need a financial reward. These statements form part of the prosecution’s account of the exchanges, rather than a judicial finding about his motives.

What happens next

At the time of the announcement, Laatsch was scheduled to make his first court appearance on 30 May 2025. The supplied release does not report the outcome of that appearance, a plea or a trial date.

The FBI’s Washington Field Office is investigating, with assistance from the US Air Force Office of Special Investigations. The announcement does not say that classified material reached an actual representative of the foreign government; the alleged recipient in the described exchanges was an FBI agent.

Assistant US Attorney Gordon Kromberg and National Security Division trial attorneys Christina Clark and Mark Murphy are prosecuting the case. The release does not identify a specific charging statute or set out a potential sentence.