Defense Dept. Computer Scientist Charged With Violations of Espionage Act
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A Defense Department information technology expert made his first appearance in federal court Friday after being arrested this week on charges of violating the Espionage Act.
Nathan Vilas Laatsch is accused of trying to pass top secret information to what the FBI described as a “friendly” nation.
He intended the information as both a protest and a sign of his good faith in seeking citizenship in the unidentified foreign nation.
Laatsch expressed dissatisfaction with the Trump administration in emails included in court filings. He said it did not represent the best interests of the United States.
He tried to deliver the classified information to an undercover FBI agent at a public park in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Alexandria, Virginia, according to court filings.
Laatsch worked in the Insider Threat Division of the Defense Intelligence Agency. The agency informs defense policymakers about the military plans and capabilities of foreign governments and others that could represent a threat to the United States.
The FBI was tipped off in March by an unidentified source that Laatsch was trying to establish communication with a foreign country.
Instead, he was contacted by an undercover FBI agent posing as a representative of the country.
“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,” Laatsch allegedly wrote in one email to the FBI agent. “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 wore a tee-shirt and sweatpants for his brief appearance Friday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. He remains in jail while awaiting a hearing next Wednesday on whether he should be released on bond.
He is charged under a section of the Espionage Act that allows criminal prosecution for gathering defense information to aid a foreign government.
He faces the possibility of death or life in prison. Justice Department officials have not yet announced the penalty they will seek.
“When someone entrusted with access to classified information attempts to provide it to a foreign government, it jeopardizes our intelligence capabilities, our military advantage and the safety of our nation,” Sue J. Bai, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, said in a statement.
She accused Laatsch of “a profound betrayal of the American people and a direct threat to our national security.”
Part of the evidence described in the charging documents came from surveillance video of Laatsch’s workstation.
The video allegedly shows Laatsch accessing classified information on his computer, writing it down on a notepad and then slipping it into his socks or lunchbox, an FBI affidavit says.
He allegedly delivered the classified information to the undercover agent on a thumb drive and nine typed documents by dropping them off in the Alexandria park. They were classified as either secret or top secret government information.
One of the records “reflected sensitive methods of intelligence collection, intelligence related to foreign military exercises, and analysis of the impact of those military exercises,” the FBI affidavit said.
He told the undercover agent that in exchange he sought “citizenship for your country” and that although he might be willing to accept money, he was not necessarily seeking “material compensation,” according to prosecutors’ court filings.
Laatsch, 28, has worked at the Defense Intelligence Agency since 2019 with a top-secret security clearance. He graduated in 2018 with a degree in cybersecurity from Florida Polytechnic University.
His job entailed monitoring computer use of people being investigated. Until now, he had no criminal record.
The FBI reported that Laatsch told their agent he could use his information access to know whether anyone suspected him of wrongdoing and that he knew how to avoid “stupid mistakes” that led to investigations of other government employees.
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