Former DIA IT specialist pleads guilty after offering classified intel to foreign government

Nathan Vilas Laatsch, 29, of Alexandria, Virginia, worked as an IT specialist for the Defense Intelligence Agency beginning in 2019. He pleaded guilty to offering to pass classified national defense information to an undisclosed friendly foreign government. In reality, Laatsch supplied the intelligence to an undercover FBI operative, transcribing material on a notepad, copying it to a thumb drive, and leaving it in a northern Virginia park for collection.

The FBI verified the documents and later asked for more, after which Laatsch was taken into custody. Attorney General Todd Blanche emphasized the seriousness of breaching trust with classified data. Laatsch, who expressed interest in the foreign country's citizenship, is scheduled for sentencing on Jan. 27, 2027 and could receive up to life imprisonment.