Former DIA IT specialist pleads guilty to leaking secrets to foreign government

Nathan Vilas Laatsch, 29, of Alexandria, Virginia, pleaded guilty to transmitting national defense information to a foreign government, the Justice Department announced. Laatsch is a former information technology specialist for the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Attorney General Todd Blanche said U.S. government employees entrusted with the nation’s secrets must protect national security rather than “cavalierly toss aside this responsibility out of disagreement, selfishness or greed,” adding that Laatsch faces serious consequences for violating his position of trust. Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said Laatsch’s “animus toward the U.S. government” did not excuse betraying his oath to the Constitution, calling the unlawful disclosure of national defense information to a foreign government a serious crime rather than “a form of principled dissent.”

According to court documents, Laatsch joined the DIA as a civilian employee in 2019, working with the agency’s Insider Threat Division while holding a Top Secret security clearance. In March 2025, the FBI learned that Laatsch had offered to provide classified information to a friendly foreign government. He subsequently began communicating with someone he believed was affiliated with that government but who was actually an FBI agent, prosecutors said.

Court documents state that in late April 2025, Laatsch transcribed classified information onto a notepad at his desk over approximately three days and repeatedly removed it from his workspace. He then placed the information on a thumb drive and deposited the drive at a public park in northern Virginia for retrieval. The FBI recovered the drive, which contained multiple typed documents with information classified up to the Secret or Top Secret level. It also contained a message in which Laatsch said he had included “a decent sample size” to demonstrate the range of material he could access, according to court documents.

After receiving confirmation that the drive had been retrieved, Laatsch expressed interest in obtaining citizenship from the foreign country. He said he was “not opposed to other compensation” but did not need “material compensation” financially, prosecutors said. In mid-May, the FBI agent told Laatsch he was prepared to receive more classified information. Between May 15 and May 27, Laatsch again transcribed pages of notes while logged into his classified workstation and removed the information from his workspace hidden in his clothing, according to court documents.

On May 29, 2025, Laatsch transmitted additional classified documents at a prearranged location in northern Virginia and was arrested after the FBI received them, prosecutors said.

FBI Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky said Laatsch, whose work involved preventing insider threats, instead offered classified information to a foreign government and sought foreign citizenship.

Laatsch is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 27, 2027, and faces a maximum penalty of life in prison. A federal judge will determine his sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The FBI’s Washington Field Office investigated the case, with assistance from the FBI’s Global Counterespionage Unit and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations and cooperation from the DIA. The Justice Department’s National Security Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia are prosecuting the case.