A retired U.S. Army officer who worked as a civilian employee of the Air Force has pleaded guilty to conspiring to pass classified information about Russia’s war against Ukraine in a personal correspondence on a dating website. The woman posed as a Ukrainian.
This was reported by the Associated Press, Censor.NET reports .
David Franklin Slater, 64, of Nebraska, reportedly worked in the USSTRATCOM (US Strategic Command) classified area at Offutt Air Force Base from 2021 to 2022 and had access to documents classified as “top secret.” He retired as a lieutenant colonel in 2020.
Case records show that Slater communicated about the war with an unknown woman via email and a messaging platform on a foreign online dating site.
In particular, in March 2022, the interlocutor wrote: “Dear, what are the screens showing in that special room? It’s very interesting.” And also asked: “Dear Dave, do NATO and Biden have a secret plan to help us?”
The online friend called the officer “my secret informant, my love!” and also said: “You are my secret agent. With love.”
Another message from the woman read: “Dave, I hope NATO has a very nice ‘surprise’ for Putin tomorrow! Will you tell me?”
In April 2022, she noted: “My dear Dave, thank you for the valuable information – it’s great that two officials from the US are going to Kyiv.” It is not known whether this person was from Ukraine, the Russian Federation, or another country. The platform where these conversations took place is also not named.
In response to these requests, Slater did provide her with classified information, including military objectives and Russian military capabilities related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Prosecutors noted that Slater had undergone special training in handling confidential information, so “he should have suspected insincerity.”
The man was arrested in March 2024 and pleaded guilty to conspiracy. He will be sentenced on October 8. The man must serve between 5 years and 10 months and 7 years and 3 months in prison.
Author: Valeria Sushkova Джерело: https://censor.net/ua/n3563394
(C)CENSOR.NET 2025
He is not worthy of an officer’s rank by this sort of behavior. Any simple airman knows better.
A civilian working for the air force has access to classified data? Why not just post it on Signal with the rest of the secrets.