US government snitch-finder pleads guilty to leaking state secrets to foreign spies
Former Defence Intelligence Agency IT specialist Nathan Vilas Laatsch has pleaded guilty to attempting to provide classified US intelligence to what court documents described as a “friendly foreign government”, after an FBI undercover operation. The case is particularly notable because Laatsch had been assigned to the DIA’s Insider Threat Division, which is responsible for identifying suspected leaks of classified information.
Laatsch, a civilian DIA employee since 2019 with top-secret clearance, contacted the foreign government in March 2025 and offered completed and unprocessed intelligence. Prosecutors said he copied information into handwritten notes, concealed them in his socks and lunchbox, then left a thumb drive in an Arlington, Virginia park in May 2025; the FBI recovered nine typed documents, eight containing classified information. He was arrested that month, aged 28, and is now 29.
- DIA insider-threat specialist pleaded guilty to leaking classified intelligence.
- The FBI used an undercover sting and recovered the material.
- He allegedly concealed notes before using a park dead drop.
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The Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) is a US military intelligence service that gathers and analyses information for defence officials. Some of its work is classified, meaning access is restricted because the information is considered sensitive. Employees with high-level clearance are allowed to see some of that material as part of their jobs.
The DIA’s Insider Threat Division looks for signs that staff or contractors may be misusing their access to classified information. Its work sits within broader efforts by US agencies to protect intelligence from being disclosed without authorisation. Cases involving people with such access can raise questions about how those safeguards operate.