ALEXANDRIA, VA — A former Defense Intelligence Agency employee pleaded guilty to transmitting classified national defense information to someone he believed represented a foreign government, federal prosecutors said.
Nathan Vilas Laatsch, 29, of Alexandria, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to transmission of national defense information to a foreign government. He faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced in January.
Laatsch began working for the DIA in 2019 and was assigned to its Insider Threat Division, according to court documents. He held a Top Secret security clearance.
The FBI learned in March 2025 that Laatsch had offered to provide classified information to a friendly foreign government. Laatsch subsequently began communicating with someone he believed was affiliated with that country but who was actually an undercover FBI agent, prosecutors said.
In April 2025, Laatsch spent about three days transcribing classified information onto a notepad at his desk and removing it from his workplace. He later left a thumb drive containing the information at a Northern Virginia park for what he believed was the foreign government to retrieve.
The FBI recovered the drive and found multiple documents containing information classified as high as top secret, prosecutors said. In a message included on the drive, Laatsch said he provided a "decent sample size" to demonstrate the types of classified material he could access.
After learning the information had been retrieved, Laatsch told the undercover agent he was interested in obtaining citizenship in the foreign country. He said he was "not opposed to other compensation," but did not need money, according to prosecutors.
Laatsch again removed classified information from his workplace in May 2025, this time hiding handwritten notes in his clothing, court documents said.
On May 29, Laatsch went to a prearranged location in Northern Virginia and delivered additional classified documents. FBI agents arrested him after receiving the material.
"By his own admission, Laatsch betrayed his oath by offering classified information to a foreign government, the very thing he was supposed to prevent as an employee of DIA's Insider Threat Division," Roman Rozhavsky, assistant director of the FBI's Counterintelligence and Espionage Division, said.
The FBI Washington Field Office investigated the case with assistance from other federal agencies and the DIA.
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