Retired US Army Lt. Colonel David Franklin Slater, who worked as a civilian employee at Offutt Air Force Base while assigned to the US Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), was arrested on March 2 for disclosing “classified information relating to the national defense (National Defense Information or NDI)” between February and April 2022.
According to the US Department of Justice press release, a “co-conspirator” who “claimed to be a female living in Ukraine on the foreign dating website” addressed Slater as her “secret informant love” and her “secret agent” in her messages and asked him to provide her with classified information on Ukraine.
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Slater then disclosed classified information “regarding military targets and Russian military capabilities relating to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine” learned from the USSTRATCOM briefings to her.
The identity of the co-conspirator and the name of the dating site were not established in the press release.
The court documents also cited some exchanges between the two.
“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?” one message read.
“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?” another message read.
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Slater “worked in a classified space at USSTRATCOM” and held a Top Secret security clearance from August 2021 to April 2022 after retiring as a Lt. Colonel from the US Army, according to the indictment.
“As alleged, Mr. Slater, an Air Force civilian employee and retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel, knowingly transmitted classified national defense information to another person in blatant disregard for the security of his country and his oath to safeguard its secrets,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.
“The Department of Justice will seek to hold accountable those who knowingly and willfully put their country at risk by disclosing classified information,” he added.
Slated is set to appear before the court in the District of Nebraska today. If convicted, Slater faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000 for each count of conspiracy to transmit and the transmission of national defense information.
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