Intel Agency Employee Charged With Trying to Give Classified Docs to Foreign Government

FBI Director Kash Patel said the case ‘underscores the persistent risk of insider threats.’

The Department of Justice logo on a podium before a press conference at the Justice Department in Washington on May 6, 2025. Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo

An IT specialist employed by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) was arrested on May 29 in Northern Virginia and charged with attempting to transmit classified information to an officer or agent of a foreign government, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said.

Nathan Vilas Laatsch, 28, of Alexandria, Virginia, was arrested while allegedly trying to transmit multiple classified documents to a person he believed was a foreign government official, but who was actually an undercover FBI agent.