US Air Force employee shared classified information about the war in Ukraine on a dating site

Nebraska, USA (Svidomi) — The US Department of Justice has announced that a civilian Air Force employee has been charged with unlawfully disclosing classified national defence information. The man shared information about Russia's war against Ukraine on a dating site.

David Franklin Slater, 63, was arrested on March 2 at Offutt Air Force Base. He was assigned to the U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) classified area and held a Top Secret security clearance from around August 2021 until around April 2022, after retiring.

The Department of Justice alleges that Slater willfully, improperly, and unlawfully transmitted NDI classified as “SECRET,” which he had reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nation, on a foreign online dating platform to a person not authorized to receive such information.

The indictment states that Slater attended USSTRATCOM briefings on Russia's war against Ukraine, which were classified up to Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS//SCI). He then passed on the classified information he learnt from these briefings in messages on a dating site to his accomplice, who posed as a woman living in Ukraine. He allegedly disseminated the data until April 2022.

In particular, on or about 28 March 2022, Slater transmitted classified information about military objectives in Russia's war against Ukraine, and on or about April 13, 2022, he transmitted information about Russian military capabilities related to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Slater will make his initial court appearance on March 5, in the District of Nebraska.