Nathan Vilas Laatsch obtained a degree in cyber security from Florida Polytechnic University in 2018 and was hired by DIA to work in their Insider Threat Division in 2019. He held a Top-Secret security clearance.
In March 2025 he sent an email to a foreign government official with the subject line: “Outreach from USA Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Officer,”. The email included information about his position and photocopies of his work badges with personal information redacted to provide bona fides.
He also wrote his motivations were disagreements with actions taken by the Trump administration: “The recent actions of the current administration are extremely disturbing to me…. 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. “
The FBI soon received the email through undisclosed means (the foreign government official likely reported it immediately). Although the Department of Justice did not clarify who Laatsch attempted to contact, the Sunday Times reported it was a German BND officer. An undercover FBI agent began communicating with Laatsch via email and a messaging app. DIA officials also installed a camera above his workspace to record his activities. Over the course of their communications, Laatsch indicated his interest in gaining citizenship in the foreign country as a reward for his efforts.
In late April 2025, Laatsch transcribed classified information from nine separate reports onto a notepad at his desk, then hid the pages in his socks when he left his office. He later uploaded the notes onto a thumb drive and left it in a dead drop at a park in Arlington, Virginia, which the FBI retrieved.
FBI agents arrested Laatsch in late May 2025 just after he conducted a second dead drop in Arlington, VA. On August 26th, 2026, he pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to transmit national defense information to a foreign government. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 27, 2027.