Nathan Vilas Laatsch worked in the Defense Intelligence Agency's Insider Threat Division, where part of his job was turning on the monitoring that watches people with access to DIA systems. In March 2025 he emailed a friendly foreign government under the subject line "Outreach from USA Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Officer," offering classified intelligence. The FBI took over the other side of the conversation.

Built from the FBI affidavit, the statement of facts and the plea agreement, this episode follows him in his own words: why he said he was doing it, why he copied documents by hand to get around the monitoring he helped run, the folded notes in his socks and lunchbox that DIA's cameras recorded, the dead drop in an Arlington park, his request for citizenship instead of money, and his confidence that nobody could open a case on him without his knowing. We explain insider threat programs, special access programs, dead drops and tasking, and why sending secrets to an ally is the same crime as sending them to an adversary.

Laatsch pleaded guilty on August 26, 2026, to attempting to transmit national defense information to a foreign government. The maximum is life; under the plea agreement he will ask for no less than 11 years and the government for no more than 18. Sentencing is set for January 27, 2027. Sourced from court filings, DOJ releases, and public reporting. Narrated using AI-generated voices.