Former Federal IT Specialist Pleads Guilty to Sharing Classified Information, DOJ Says
- Nathan Vilas Laatsch, a 29-year-old former IT specialist at the Defense Intelligence Agency, pleaded guilty to transmitting classified national defense information to a foreign government in 2025.
- Laatsch, who held a Top Secret clearance, attempted to deliver classified materials via a thumb drive left in a public park, which was recovered by the FBI.
- He communicated with an undercover FBI agent he believed was a foreign official and expressed interest in obtaining citizenship from the foreign country rather than financial compensation.
- Laatsch faces up to life in prison and is scheduled for sentencing on January 27, 2027, with officials emphasizing the seriousness of his betrayal of trust.
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9NEWS Denver
Former federal IT specialist pleads guilty to sharing classified information, DOJ says
Court records show the former IT specialist copied classified information into a notepad, hid the pages in his socks and put them on a thumb drive.
Former US defense intelligence staffer pleads guilty to trying to give classified info to ‘friendly’ foreign government
Nathan Vilas Laatsch, 29, a former civilian employee of the Defense Intelligence Agency, which is part of the Pentagon, pleaded guilty to sharing national defense information with a foreign government, the U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday.Laatsch, of Alexandria, Va., worked in the agency’s insider threat division and held a top secret security clearance with access to special access programs, according to court documents.He wrote to an e…
Former DIA IT specialist admits sharing secret US information with foreign government
A former Defense Intelligence Agency employee admitted to trying to hand over classified U.S. intelligence to a foreign government, allegedly hoping to secure citizenship in return. Nathan Vilas Laatsch, 29, of Alexandria, Virginia, pleaded guilty Wednesday to transmitting national defense information to a foreign government, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Laatsch had worked as an IT specialist at the Defense Intelligence Agency si…
The Register
IT Security News - cybersecurity, infosecurity newsUS government snitch-finder pleads guilty to leaking state secrets to foreign spies
The former Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) IT specialist previously accused of trying to pass secret and top-secret information to foreign spies has pleaded guilty following a successful FBI sting. Nathan Vilas Laatsch, then 28, and now 29, was arrested in May 2025 after an undercover FBI agent caught him for the second time transmitting intelligence packages in a public park that he believed would be collected by a foreign government’s spy. T…
Former Federal Worker Pleads Guilty to Attempting to Transmit Classified Intel to a Foreign Government
The Justice Department announced Thursday that a former federal employee has pleaded guilty to transmitting national defense information to an undisclosed foreign government. The department said 29-year-old Nathan Vilas Laatsch of Alexandria, Virginia, started working for the Defense Intelligence Agency as an IT specialist in 2019 and pleaded guilty Wednesday to transmitting classified information to a friendly foreign government.
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