A retired Army officer with top-secret clearance pleaded guilty to sharing Ukraine war secrets with a fake online lover, spotlighting ongoing risks of espionage and emotional manipulation in national security.
A retired United States Army officer who worked as a civilian contractor for the US Air Force and held top secret clearance could face up to 10 years in prison after he “pleaded guilty” last week to “conspiring to transmit classified information relating to the national defense.”
David Slater, 64, acknowledged that he shared classified information about the ongoing war in Ukraine on a foreign online dating site. Slater was assigned to the United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) at Offutt Air Force Base (AFB), Nebraska.
“The defendant, an employee of the United States Air Force with access to some of our Nation’s most closely held secrets, shared classified information with someone claiming to be a foreigner on an online dating platform,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg.
“The Department of Justice stands ready to hold accountable those who violate their obligation to protect sensitive national security information entrusted to them.”
In exchange for pleading guilty to the single count, two other counts were dropped.
Slater had retired from the US Army as a lieutenant colonel in 2020 and began working for USSTRATCOM a year later. The Department of Justice, citing court documents, stated that Slater had attended “briefings regarding Russia’s war against Ukraine.” The information was classified up to TOP SECRET//SENTSITVE COMPARTMENTED INFORMATION (TS/SCI).
The former Army officers shared information from those briefings via a dating website with a co-conspirator, allegedly a female living in Ukraine.
“Access to classified information comes with great responsibility. David Slater failed in his duty to protect this information by willingly sharing National Defense Information with an unknown online personality despite having years of military experience that should have caused him to be suspicious of that person’s motives,” said US Attorney Lesley A. Woods for the District of Nebraska.
The maximum sentence for the “charge of conspiracy to transmit national defense information” is up to 10 years in prison with a fine of up to $250,000. Slater will be sentenced in October.
The Retired Army Officer Was Honeytrapped
The unnamed female, who may not even live in Ukraine, reportedly sent Slater messages, including one that read, “Beloved Dave, do NATO and Biden have a secret plan to help us?”
The unnamed co-conspirator also described Slater in posts as her “secret informant love” and her “secret agent.” By all accounts, it appears that he may have fallen victim to a honeytrap.
Although it remains a common theme in popular culture, to the point that it has become something of a cliché, the honeytrap has been employed as a very real tactic in the Intelligence Community (IC) for centuries. Catherine de Medici, wife of King Henry II of France, and mother of kings Francis II, Charles IX, and Henry III, was rumored to have overseen a group of women who were dispatched as agents of influence and intelligence operatives.
One of the most infamous honeytraps involved Mata Hari, the Dutch-born woman who the French military arrested on charges of spying for the Germans during the First World War. It was alleged that the German military attaché in Spain was sending her money and that she passed on information. The evidence was flimsy, and some modern historians have suggested she was tried and then executed by firing squad simply to send a warning to any women who might be tempted to spill military secrets for money!
Honeytraps Have Been Successful Against the US Military
A decade ago, the breach of Ashley Madison, an online “dating” site for those looking to have an affair, revealed a large number of .mil email addresses, presenting a problem for the Pentagon and IC. At the time, the US Army stated, “There is no crime for signing up for a website.”
Yet, the problem continues, as noted by this recent guilty plea from Slater. An extramarital affair can be enough to have security clearance revoked. The concern is that it leads to compromise, one of the motivations that may lead an individual to betray their country or become an insider threat.
It is part of “MICE,” the acronym for “money, ideology, compromise/coercion, and ego.”
In Slater’s case, it may not have been fear of exposure, and instead, he may have been coerced by the other individual on the dating app.
The honeytrap problem has become so great in the digital era that the UK’s MI5 prepared a 14-page document and distributed it to hundreds of British banks, businesses, and financial institutions in early 2010. Titled “The Threat from Chinese Espionage,” the document from the famed British security service described a wide-ranging Chinese effort to blackmail Western businesspeople over sexual relationships.
Slater and others who got stuck in the honeytrap may likely have wished they’d read it!
About the Author: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu has contributed over 3,200 published pieces to more than four dozen magazines and websites over a thirty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. He is based in Michigan. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].
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