A retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel has been accused of sharing confidential Pentagon documents about the war in Ukraine on a dating app to a supposed woman who called him her “secret informant.”
“(Such information, if disclosed,) could cause serious harm to national security,” reads the indictment filed in court on Saturday, according to CBS News.
Former Air Force civilian assigned to the United States Strategic Command, David Franklin Slater, 63, was reportedly put in handcuffs Saturday on charges of conspiracy and unauthorized disclosure of national defense information after sharing state secrets to an anonymous person claiming to be a Ukrainian, on a foreign dating site.
In several of their exchanges, noted in the court document, we can see the individual insisting on the subject of the war in Ukraine and asking questions, thanking his “secret informant” for this “valuable information”, according to the media American.
“Dear, what is shown on the screens in the special room?? This is very interesting,” “Beloved Dave, do NATO and Biden have a secret plan to help us?” and “It’s great that two American officials are going to Kyiv,” the so-called Ukrainian would have rejoiced via private messages and email, according to “The Independent.”
Thanks to his status within the American agency, the sixty-year-old had access to Top Secret security level information, and yet had received training on the appropriate handling of sensitive government information, according to CBS News.
“Certain responsibilities fall on people with access to top secret information. The allegations against Mr. Slater call into question whether he betrayed these responsibilities,” raised American Attorney Susan Lehr, for the District of Nebraska, according to the American media.
The charges against the ex-serviceman were filed just hours after a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, Jack Teixeira, admitted in court to sharing highly classified government documents on an online gaming platform.
