US Strategic Command Employee Charged For Sharing Secret Defense Information on Dating site
The FBI Omaha Field Office and the US Air Force Office of Special Investigations are investigating a case of Unlawful Disclosure of Classified National Defense Information. David Franklin Slater, 63, an employee of U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska has been indicted on multiple charges for sharing information classified sensitive and secret.
Slater, a US Air Force civilian employee and retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel, appears to have been involved in a classic honeypot operation undertaken by unidentified foreign actors. The indictment alleges that Slater transmitted classified national defense information that he gathered from briefings to a co-conspirator, who claimed to be a female living in Ukraine, via a foreign online dating website’s messaging platform.
“Certain responsibilities are incumbent to individuals with access to Top Secret information. The allegations against Mr. Slater challenge whether he betrayed those responsibilities,” said U.S. Attorney Susan Lehr for the District of Nebraska. Slater worked at USSTRATCOM from August 2021 through to April 2022, and attended regular briefings on the war in Ukraine from February to April 2022.
The indictment, published by the US Department of Justice, includes a number of incriminating messages from the individual Slater was in communication with including a message on 11 March: “Dear, what is shown on the screens in the special room?? It is very interesting.” On 15 March: “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?” And on 18 March: “Beloved Dave, do NATO and Biden have a secret plan to help us?” The quoted interactions continue into April, on the 19th Slater received a message asking “Dave, I hope tomorrow NATO will prepare a very unpleasant “surprise” for Putin! Will you tell me?” In response to their messages Slater allegedly provided classified information.
Slater’s indicment follows the case of 21-year-old Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira, who was arrested by the FBI in April 2023, suspected of leaking classified documents and yesterday pleaded guilty to six counts of wilful retention and transmission of classified information relating to national defense. Teixeira faces a likely 16 year prison sentence. In another breach of security, Germany’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said an investigation had been launched into how audio from a meeting of senior German air force officials was leaked by Russian sources last week after what he called an “individual error”.
Slater will make his initial court appearance today, 5 March, in Nebraska. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison as well as 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.