Ukrainian woman honeytraps retired US Army officer on dating app, gets secret information related to Russian Army, NATO and American plans
David Franklin Slater
, who was working as a civilian employee with top security clearance at an American air force base, through an online
dating app
to secure the information.
The 64-year-old Slater worked as an Air Force civilian employee between August 2021 and April 2022 after retiring from the
US Army
on December 31, 2020. He was posted at the U.S. Strategic Command at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska.
The US Department of Justice alleged Slater sent the classified information to the woman regularly, who addressed him as her 'secret informant love' and her 'secret agent.' The classified information included Russian military targets and capabilities relating to the country's invasion of Ukraine.
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What information did Slater share with Ukranian woman?
Slater, who served in Afghanistan and Germany, transmitted information related to the travels plans of
NATO
official as well as a U.S. Senator who went to Ukraine. The Courthouse News Service website detailed some of the coversation between Slater and the Ukranian woman on the dating app.
Live Events
"By the way, you were the first to tell me that NATO members are traveling by train and only now (already evening) this was announced on our news. You are my secret informant love! How were your meetings? Successfully?" she asked Slater.
On another occasion, the woman called him beloved and sought details of plans by the Biden administration. "Beloved Dave, do NATO and Biden have a secret plan to help us?"
"Dave, it's great that you get information about [Specified Country 1] first. I hope you will tell me right away? You are my secret agent. With love."
She got in touch with Slater on April 14, 2022, just three weeks after Russia launch its military offensive against Ukraine and thanked him for providing inflrmation related to US senators travelling to Kiev. "My sweet Dave, thanks for the valuable information, it's great that two officials from the USA are going to Kiev."
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The same day two Republican leaders - U.S. Senator Steve Daines and U.S. Representative Victoria Sparks - were in Kiev. They were the first US officials to treavel to Ukraine following the Russian attack.
He was arrested in March 2024 and pleaded guilty to the charges, stated DoJ in a press release dated July 10, 2025. Slater provided classified information relating to the national defense "on a foreign online dating platform beginning in or around February 2022 until in or around April 2022".
"The defendant, an employee of the United States Air Force with access to some of our Nation's most closely held secrets, shared classified information with someone claiming to be a foreigner on an online dating platform. The Department of Justice stands ready to hold accountable those who violate their obligation to protect sensitive national security information entrusted to them," said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg.
Lesley A. Woods, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Nebraska, added, "Access to classified information comes with great responsibility. David Slater failed in his duty to protect this information by willingly sharing National Defense Information with an unknown online personality despite having years of military experience that should have caused him to be suspicious of that person's motives."
The information which Slater transmitted to the woman was classified as 'SECRET'. It could be used against the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nation, the release added.
Slater was present at USSTRATCOM briefings on the Russia-Ukraine war and the information shared with the attendees were classified up to TOP SECRET//SENSITIVE COMPARTMENTED INFORMATION (TS//SCI).
He now faces a prison sentence of up to 10 years, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000. The sentencing is scheduled on October 8, 2025.
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Abrego has pleaded not was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on March 12 and questioned about alleged affiliation with the criminal gang MS-13, which the State Department has designated as a foreign terrorist organization. His lawyers have denied the alleged gang affiliation. He was deported on March 15 on one of three deportation flights to El Salvador that also included Venezuelan MILITARY BAN The court on May 6 permitted Trump's administration to implement his ban on transgender people in the U.S. military, letting the armed forces discharge thousands of current transgender troops and reject new recruits while legal challenges play out. The court granted the Justice Department's request to lift U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle's nationwide order blocking the military from carrying out Trump's had found that Trump's order likely violates the Constitution's Fifth Amendment right to equal protection under the law. The Justice Department had said Settle usurped the authority of the government's branch of government - headed by Trump - to determine who may serve in the military. In the case before Settle, seven active-duty transgender troops, a transgender man seeking to enlist and a civil rights advocacy group sued over the FEDERAL LAYOFFS The justices on July 8 cleared the way for the administration to pursue mass government job cuts and the sweeping downsizing of numerous agencies. At the administration's request, the justices lifted U.S. District Judge Susan Illston's May 22 order that had blocked large-scale federal layoffs called "reductions in force" while litigation in the case proceeds. Workforce reductions were planned at the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Health and Human Services, State, Treasury, Veterans Affairs and more than a dozen other agencies. Illston wrote in her ruling that Trump had exceeded his authority, siding with a group of unions, non-profits and local governments that challenged the PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSIONERS The court on July 23 let Trump remove three Democratic members of the government's top consumer product safety watchdog, boosting his power over federal agencies set up by Congress to be independent from presidential control. It lifted U.S. District Judge Matthew Maddox's order that had blocked Trump from dismissing three Consumer Product Safety Commission members appointed by Biden while a legal challenge to their removal proceeds. Maddox had ruled that Trump overstepped his authority in firing Commissioners Mary Boyle, Alexander Hoehn-Saric and Richard Trumka the Supreme Court indicated that the administration was likely to show that the president is empowered by the Constitution to remove members of the commission. 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It asked the justices to lift U.S. District Judge William Young's June ruling that halted the plan as a violation of federal law and required the government to reinstate access to the grant funds. Young acted in a legal challenge by researchers and 16 U.S. states, led by Democratic-governed Massachusetts. The NIH is the world's largest funder of biomedical TRAINING GRANTS The justices on April 4 let Trump's administration proceed with millions of dollars of cuts to teacher training grants - part of his crackdown on diversity initiatives. The court put on hold U.S. District Judge Myong Joun's March 10 order requiring the Department of Education to reinstate in eight Democratic-led states funding for grants under two teacher training programs while a legal challenge by the states states sued after the department announced that it had cut $600 million in teacher training funds that were promoting what it called "divisive ideologies" including diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, or DEI. The grant programs were established to help support institutions that recruit and train educators in a bid to address critical teacher shortages, especially in rural and underserved SECURITY DATA The court on June 6 permitted the Department of Government Efficiency, a key player in Trump's drive to slash the federal workforce, broad access to personal information on millions of Americans in Social Security Administration data systems. At the Justice Department's request, the justices put on hold U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander's order that had largely blocked DOGE's access to "personally identifiable information" in data such as medical and financial records while a legal challenge plays out. DOGE had been spearheaded by Elon Musk before the billionaire left the government and had a falling out with Trump. Two labor unions and an advocacy group sued to stop DOGE members from accessing some of the Social Security Administration's most sensitive data TRANSPARENCY The justices on June 6 extended their block on judicial orders requiring DOGE to turn over records to a government watchdog advocacy group that sought details on its operations. The court on May 23 had issued a temporary pause. The justices put on hold U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper's orders for DOGE to respond requests by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington for information. Cooper had concluded that DOGE likely is a government agency covered by the federal Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA. The administration contends DOGE is an advisory entity not subject to TO FOREIGN AID GROUPS The court on March 5 declined to let Trump's administration withhold payment to foreign aid organizations for work they already performed for the government as he moves to pull the plug on American humanitarian projects around the world. The court upheld U.S. District Judge Amir Ali's order that had called on the administration to promptly release funding to contractors and recipients of grants from the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department for their past organizations accused Trump in lawsuits of exceeding his authority under federal law and the U.S. Constitution by effectively dismantling an independent federal agency in USAID and canceling spending authorized by WATCHDOG AGENCY HEAD The court on February 21 declined to let Trump immediately fire the head of a federal watchdog agency after a judge's order had temporarily blocked the ouster. The court postponed action on the Justice Department's request to lift U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson's February 12 order that had temporarily blocked Trump's removal of Hampton Dellinger as head of the Office of Special Counsel. Dellinger on March 6 ended his legal challenge to his firing after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit allowed Trump's action to stand. The independent agency protects government whistleblowers.
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- Hindustan Times
Trade on agenda as Trump lands in Scotland for diplomacy and golf
US President Donald Trump landed in Scotland on Friday for a five-day visit set to mix diplomacy, business and leisure, as a huge UK security operation swung into place amid planned protests near his family-owned golf resorts. HT Image The president, whose mother was born in Scotland, will split his time between two seaside golf courses bearing his name, in Turnberry on the southwestern coast and Aberdeen in the northeast. Air Force One, carrying the president and White House staff, touched down at Prestwick Airport near Glasgow shortly before 8:30 pm (1930 GMT). Police officers lined surrounding streets and several hundred curious Scots came out hoping for a glimpse of the US leader as he made his way to Turnberry. Trump has no public events scheduled for Saturday and is expected to play golf at his picturesque resort, before meeting EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday for trade talks. Trump is also due to meet UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer during the trip. "We're going to do a little celebrating together, because we got along very well," Trump told reporters as he left the White House Friday, calling Starmer "a good guy" doing "a very good job". He said they would discuss "fine tuning" the bilateral trade deal struck in May, and would "maybe even improve it". But the unpredictable American leader appeared unwilling to cede to a UK request for reduced steel and aluminium tariffs. Trump has exempted British exports from blanket 50 percent tariffs on both metals, but the fate of that carve-out remains unclear. "If I do it for one, I have to do it for all," Trump told reporters, when asked if he had any "wiggle room" for the UK on the issue. The international outcry over the conflict in Gaza may also be on the agenda, as Starmer faces growing pressure to follow French President Emmanuel Macron and announce that Britain will also recognise a Palestinian state. Trump is due to return to the UK in September for a state visit -- his second -- at the invitation of King Charles III, which promises to be lavish. During a 2023 visit, Trump said he felt at home in Scotland, where his mother Mary Anne MacLeod grew up on the remote Isle of Lewis before emigrating to the United States at age 18. "He's original, he does things the way he wants to. I think a lot of our politicians could take a good leaf out of his book," 45-year-old Trump fan Lisa Hart told AFP as she waited to see his plane touch down. But the affection between Trump and Scotland is not always mutual. Residents, environmentalists and elected officials have voiced discontent over the Trump family's construction of a new golf course, which he is expected to open before he departs the UK on Tuesday. Police Scotland, which is bracing for mass protests in Edinburgh and Aberdeen as well as close to Trump's golf courses, have said there will be a "significant operation across the country over many days". Scottish First Minister John Swinney, who will also meet Trump during the visit, said the nation "shares a strong friendship with the United States that goes back centuries". Trump has also stepped into the sensitive debate in the UK about green energy and reaching net zero, with Aberdeen being the heart of Scotland's oil industry. In May, he wrote on his Truth Social platform that the UK should "stop with the costly and unsightly windmills" as he urged incentivising drilling for oil in the North Sea. The trip to Scotland puts physical distance between Trump and the latest twists in the case of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the wealthy financier accused of sex trafficking who died in prison in 2019 before facing trial. In his heyday, Epstein was friends with Trump and others in the New York jet-set, but the president is now facing backlash from his own MAGA supporters who demand access to the Epstein case files. Many support a conspiracy theory under which "deep state" elites protected rich and famous people who took part in an Epstein sex ring. But Trump is urging his supporters to move on from the case. The Wall Street Journal, which published an article detailing longstanding links between Trump and the sex offender, is being punished by the White House. Its reporting team plans to travel to Scotland on their own and join the White House press pool. But it has now been denied a seat on Air Force One for the flight back home. While Trump's family has undertaken many development projects worldwide, the president no longer legally controls the family holdings. But opponents and watchdog groups have accused him of having many conflicts of interest and using his position as US president to promote private family investments, especially abroad. aue-jkb-jj-pdh/dc
