The Justice Department announced Thursday that a former federal employee has pleaded guilty to transmitting national defense information to an undisclosed foreign government.

The department said 29-year-old Nathan Vilas Laatsch of Alexandria, Virginia, started working for the Defense Intelligence Agency as an IT specialist in 2019 and pleaded guilty Wednesday to transmitting classified information to a friendly foreign government. 

Laatsch, who held a Top Secret security clearance and worked for the DIA's Insider Threat Division, allegedly offered to transmit the classified information to the undisclosed country in 2025 but leaked the intelligence to an FBI agent instead.

“U.S. government employees entrusted with our nation’s secrets must always protect our nation’s security, not cavalierly toss aside this responsibility out of disagreement, selfishness or greed,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. “Laatsch faces serious consequences for violating his position of trust. This case shows that if you unlawfully disclose national defense information, we will find you and hold you accountable to the fullest extent the law allows.”

The department alleged that Laatsch spent three days transcribing classified information for the undercover FBI agent on a notepad at his work desk, which he then took home and uploaded to a thumb drive that he left at a public park in northern Virginia for the foreign government to retrieve.

Once the flash drive was confirmed as legitimate, the FBI agent reached out again for more information and a week later arranged to receive more pages of classified information. Once Laatsch transmitted the latest tranche, he was arrested by the bureau.

Laatsch, who expressed interest in citizenship to the foreign country, is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 27, 2027. He faces up to life in prison.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.