U.S. government employee accused of trying to provide confidential information to foreign governments
WASHINGTON (AP) – Information technology experts at defense intelligence agencies were charged Thursday with attempting to transmit confidential information to representatives of foreign governments, the Justice Department said.
Prosecutors said Nathan Vilas Laatsch, 28, of Alexandria, Virginia, was arrested after he arranged to store sensitive records to someone he believed was a foreign government official, but was actually an undercover FBI agent. Letz believes the identity of the country he is communicating with is not disclosed, but the Justice Department describes it as a friendly or ally country.
It is unclear whether Lauz, who is going to appear in court on Friday, has a lawyer who can speak on his behalf.
The Justice Department said its investigation into Laatsch began in March after officials received a prompt to provide confidential information to another country. Prosecutors said Laatsch wrote in an email that he “did not agree or disagree with the values of the current administration” and was willing to transmit sensitive materials, including intelligence documents, that he could access.
An undercover agent contacted Laatsch, who began transcribing confidential information to notepad and developed plans to delete information that foreign government representatives could receive in the park.
Prosecutors said one of the months' drop-offs in one of the months' drop-offs, Letz left a thumb drive with multiple typing files marked with secrets and the highest secret levels. Prosecutors said in return, Ratz said he was interested in obtaining citizenship from the country because he did not expect “things here to improve in the long run”.
He was arrested Thursday at a pre-processing site after developing other exit plans.
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