The US Department of Justice reported that on March 2, a civilian employee of the United States Air Force was detained on charges of disclosing classified information about the Russian-Ukrainian war on a foreign online dating platform, UNN reports .
Details
The DOJ press release specifies that the 63-year-old defendant's name is David Slater. He worked at the US Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska from August 2021 to April 2022 and had access to classified information.
Prior to joining USSTRATCOM, he reportedly served in the U.S. Army and retired as a lieutenant colonel.
The indictment states that Mr. Slater attended strategic command briefings on the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine. It is alleged that he passed on the classified information gathered at the briefings through an online dating service to an accomplice posing as a woman living in Ukraine.
Slater's interlocutor regularly asked for classified information and called him a "secret informant" and "secret agent" in personal messages, the Ministry of Justice reports.
In response to these requests, Slater did provide him with classified intelligence, including on military installations and Russian military capabilities related to Russia's invasion of Ukraine
The first court hearing in the case against Slater will be held on March 5. He faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on each charge, the press service said.