Left: Nathan Vilas Laatsch (Alexandria Sheriff’s Office) Right: President Donald Trump in the White House, March 12, 2025 (Press Association via AP Images)
An information technology specialist with a top security clearance in the Defense Intelligence Agency stands accused of offering classified information to a foreign government because of his dissatisfaction with the Trump administration.
The civilian employee, Nathan Villas Laatsch of the DIA’s Insider Threat Division, sent classified national defense information to whom he believed was an agent of a foreign government, according to a Justice Department press release and an arrest affidavit.
Unfortunately for the suspect, they were actually corresponding with an undercover FBI agent. The documents did not identify the country of the would-be agent.
The inquiries into Laatsch’s behavior began in March of this year, after the FBI said it was provided with an email from a sender offering to provide classified information to a “friendly foreign government.” It is unclear to what email address the suspect was writing.
The email from the sender reportedly had the subject line: “Outreach from USA Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Officer.”
In the body of the email, after stating their role in the DIA, the sender wrote: “The recent actions of the current administration are extremely disturbing to me … 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,” per the affidavit.
“To this end, I am willing to share classified information that I have access to, which are completed intelligence products, some unprocessed intelligence, and other assorted classified documentation,” Laatsch allegedly went on to say, adding that he had “intimate knowledge of how DIA tracks and monitors user activity.”
The emails reportedly included a username to an encrypted messaging platform and copies of two federal ID cards — “images of badges that I use to enter workspaces.” Even though identifying information was redacted from the photos, other information present helped investigators locate Laatsch as their suspect.
Laatsch, 28, of Alexandria, Virginia, began working for the DIA in 2019. Through his work as a data scientist and IT specialist of information security, he assisted law enforcement on “insider threat tools,” had access to “highly compartmentalized classified programs,” and must have “signed a lifetime binding non-disclosure agreement in which he would have acknowledged that the unauthorized disclosure of protected information may invoke criminal penalties,” the affidavit from an FBI special agent states.
In April, communication between the suspect and the FBI agent sped up, with Laatsch allegedly dismissing concerns over the nature of his actions because, he said, “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,” referring to the federal government’s efforts.
He is accused of then transcribing classified information from his computer to a notepad at his desk, and, over the course of about three days, surreptitiously leaving work with the information — even by appearing to place folded papers “in his socks before departing.”
On May 1, Laatsch allegedly conducted a “dead drop operation” where he went to a park in Arlington and dropped off a thumb drive containing the transcribed information. About a week later, he is alleged to have requested citizenship from the unnamed country because he did not “expect things here to improve in the long term.”
The undercover FBI agent proceeded to ask for more.
“On May 14, the FBI agent advised Laatsch that it was prepared to receive additional classified information,” the DOJ press release states. “Between May 15 and May 27, Laatsch again repeatedly transcribed multiple pages of notes while logged into his classified workstation, folded the notes, and exfiltrated the classified information in his clothing.”
On Thursday, May 29, as Laatsch reportedly went to another prearranged location to drop off additional classified information, FBI agents arrested him. The FBI Washington Field Office is investigating the case, and Laatsch was scheduled to make an initial court appearance in Alexandria on Friday.
“This case underscores the persistent risk of insider threats,” FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on X on Thursday. “The FBI remains steadfast in protecting our national security and thanks our law enforcement partners for their critical support.”
