Army officer with top secret clearance admits sharing classified information on dating app

Daily Mail​

17 hours ago

A retired Army lieutenant colonel has confessed to leaking top secret information about the war between Russia and Ukraine on a foreign dating app.
David Franklin Slater, 64, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to sharing classified details about national defense on a foreign dating platform on Thursday, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Slater retired from the Army in 2020 and went on to work as a civilian employee for the Air Force in Nebraska from August 2021 to April 2022.
He was specifically hired by US Strategic Command (STRATCOM) - a defense force tasked with protecting America's nuclear weapons and preventing foreign attacks.
During his STRATCOM stint at Offutt Air Force Base, Slater held a Top Secret security clearance and attended sensitive briefings on the war Russia waged on Ukraine.
Despite having signed paperwork pledging not to keep classified information under wraps, he intentionally spilled details about military targets and Russian capabilities to a someone who claimed to be a Ukrainian woman.
Based on Slater's social media presence, he apparently had an affinity for Russian and Ukrainian women.
When DailyMail.com reviewed his Facebook likes last year, his feed was flooded with photos of women from Eastern Europe.
Slater had met and communicated with this partner in crime over a dating app. During their unlawful exchanges, she referred to him as her 'secret love informant' and her 'secret agent.'
His international lover showed a keen interest in how the war was progressing and what any future plans might be, according to court documents.
The woman regularly requested sensitive, non-public, closely held, and classified NDI, which had been labeled as 'SECRET.'
She inquired about military operations specifically at least nine times, authorities said.
'American Intelligence says that already 100 percent of Russian troops are located on the territory of Ukraine. Do you think this information can be trusted?' the woman once asked.
A few days later, she asked specifics about data shown in one of the offices.
'Dear, what is shown on the screens in the special room?? It is very interesting,' she wrote.
'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?'
He was finally arrested on March 2, 2024. No further information about the identity of who was on the other side of Slater's screen has been released.
'Certain responsibilities are incumbent to individuals with access to Top Secret information,' US Attorney Susan Lehr for the District of Nebraska said at the time.
'The allegations against Mr. Slater challenge whether he betrayed those responsibilities.'
He had originally pleaded not guilty to all three charges of illegally disclosing national defense information and conspiracy.
But on Thursday, he had entered a plea deal with the federal Omaha judge, in which he pleaded guilty to just one count and the two others were dropped.
'Mr. Slater betrayed an oath he made to safeguard our nation's intelligence,' Special Agent in Charge Eugene Kowel of the FBI Omaha Field Office said.
'Leveraging his access to sensitive information, Mr. Slater chose to transmit material that put our country at risk.'
Slater remains a free man until his sentencing, which is scheduled for October 8. His conspiracy to transmit national defense information charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.
'Access to classified information comes with great responsibility,' US Attorney Lesley Woods for the District of Nebraska said.
'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.'