Sometimes, all it takes to get access to top-secret info is to flirt online with a random US Air Force employee
- A US Air Force employee transferred classified information over a dating site, DOJ prosecutors say.
- The man, a retired US Army Officer, gave a supposedly Ukrainian woman information about Russia.
A US Stratcom employee entrusted with top-secret info about the Russia-Ukraine war is now being accused of passing it to a woman over a foreign dating site.
David Franklin Slater, 63-year-old former veteran US Army Lieutenant Colonel, pleaded not guilty Tuesday on claims that he provided a woman who claimed she was from Ukraine with classified material.
Slater was taken into custody on Saturday and granted conditional release. The terms were that he stay in Nebraska, agree to GPS monitoring, and hand over his passport, the AP reported.
Per an indictment unsealed Monday, Slater began working at the US Strategic Command in Nebraska between August 2021 and April 2022.
In February of 2022, Slater was given access to classified information as a part of his work, the document says, and given access to "briefings regarding Russia's war against Ukraine" that were labeled as high as Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information, the highest level classification of information in the government.
Prosecutors say around this time, Slater was emailing and messaging a woman who kept asking him for information from his job, which prosecutors say Slater provided.
Slater was taken into custody on Saturday and has been charged with one count of Conspiracy to Disclose National Defense Information and two counts of Unauthorized Disclosure of National Defense Information.
'Secret Informant Love'
"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," a press release from the Department of Justice reads.
In messages revealed in the court documents, the unidentified woman called Slater her "secret informant love" and her "secret agent." She would regularly inquire about US actions related to the war in Ukraine.
"My sweet Dave, thanks for the valuable information, it's great that two officials from the USA are going to Kyiv," one message from April 14, 2022, read.
"Dave, I hope tomorrow NATO will prepare a very unpleasant 'surprise' for Putin! Will you tell me?" the woman messaged on April 19, 2022.
The woman also asked him to verify news items about the war and inquired about the "special room" where he worked.
"Dear, what is shown on the screens in the special room?? It is very interesting," another message reads.
A maximum penalty of 10 years in prison
Slater provided classified information "regarding military targets in Russia's war against Ukraine" and "Russian military capabilities relating to Russia's invasion of Ukraine," per his indictment.
Slater could face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000 for each charge.
Business Insider contacted a phone number associated with David F Slater in Nebraska that has been disconnected. A public defender representing Slater did not immediately respond to a request for comment.