Former StratCom employee pleads guilty to disclosing classified information about Russia-Ukraine war on foreign dating site

A man who held a top secret security clearance as a civilian employee at Offutt Air Force Base’s Strategic Command, known as StratCom, pleaded guilty on Thursday to conspiring to disclose national defense information to a person on a foreign dating site.

David Slater, 64, was indicted in federal court last year after investigators alleged he shared sensitive defense information with a supposed Ukrainian woman he met on a foreign dating website in 2022. The two communicated on the site’s chat feature and via email, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors said the woman asked Slater to send “sensitive, non-public, closely held” information about Russia’s war on Ukraine, which he did on at least two occasions. In the plea agreement, he admitted to transmitting classified information regarding military targets and Russian military capabilities.

In messages included in the indictment, the woman called Slater “my secret informant love” and “my secret agent.” She asked about a “secret plan” from NATO to help the Ukrainians and once asked Slater what was shown “on the screens in the special room.”

In one message from April 14, 2022, the woman thanked Slater for the “valuable information” about two U.S. officials traveling to Kyiv. That day, U.S. Sen. Steve Daines of Montana and Rep. Victoria Spartz of Indiana became the first U.S. officials to travel to Ukraine since the war began.

In exchange for Slater’s guilty plea to the conspiracy charge, prosecutors dismissed two additional counts of unauthorized disclosure of national defense information. Slater will face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced in October.

Slater was a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army prior to his retirement in 2020, according to court documents. From August 2021 to April 2022, he worked in a “classified space” at StratCom. StratCom is headquartered at Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue and is tasked with detecting and deterring attacks against the U.S. and its allies.