Office of Public Affairs Air Force Employee Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Disclose Unlawfully Classified National Defense Information United States Department of Justice
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ppArchived NewsppA civilian employee of the US Air Force assigned to the US Strategic Command USSTRATCOM at Offutt Air Force Base pleaded guilty today to conspiring to transmit classified information relating to the national defense National Defense Information on a foreign online dating platform beginning in or around February 2022 until in or around April 2022ppThe defendant an employee of the United States Air Force with access to some of our Nations 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 themppAccess 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 persons motives said US Attorney Lesley A Woods for the District of NebraskappMr Slater betrayed an oath he made to safeguard our nations intelligence said Special Agent in Charge Eugene Kowel of the FBI Omaha Field Office Leveraging his access to sensitive information Mr Slater chose to transmit material that put our country at risk The FBI is extremely thankful for the work of our partners in this case We will continue to partner together to defend the homeland by aggressively investigating and apprehending criminals and adversaries who pose a threat to our nations securityppAccording to court documents David Franklin Slater 64 of Nebraska after retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel from the US Army worked in a classified space at USSTRATCOM and held a Top Secret security clearance from in or around August 2021 until in or around April 2022 Slater pleaded guilty to willfully improperly and unlawfully conspiring to transmit National Defense Information classified as SECRET which he had reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nation on a foreign online dating platform to a person not authorized to receive such informationppAccording to court documents Slater attended USSTRATCOM briefings regarding Russias war against Ukraine that were classified up to TOP SECRETSENSITIVE COMPARTMENTED INFORMATION TSSCI Slater then conspired to transmit classified National Defense Information that he learned from those briefings via the foreign online dating websites messaging platform to his coconspirator who claimed to be a female living in Ukraine on the foreign dating website The coconspirator regularly asked Slater to provide her with sensitive nonpublic closely held and classified National Defense Information and called Slater in their messages her secret informant love and her secret agent In furtherance of that conspiracy Slater did in fact transmit classified National Defense Information to her including regarding military targets and Russian military capabilities relating to Russias invasion of UkraineppThe charge of conspiracy to transmit national defense information provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to 250000 Slater is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct 8 A federal judge will determine any sentence after considering the US Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factorsppThe FBI Omaha Field Office and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations are investigating this caseppAssistant US Attorney Donald Kleine for the District of Nebraska and Trial Attorney Emma Dinan Ellenrieder of the National Security Divisions Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the caseppAn Iranian national and US lawful permanent resident has been arrested on a fourcount federal indictment charging him with unlawfully exporting electronics used in railway signaling and telecommunications systems fromppThe Justice Department announced today that Xu Zewei 徐泽伟 33 of the Peoples Republic of China was arrested on July 3 in Italy at the request of the United States ppEdward Kelley 36 of Maryville Tennessee was sentenced to life in prison today in the Eastern District of Tennessee at KnoxvilleppOffice of Public AffairsUS Department of Justice950 Pennsylvania Avenue NWWashington DC 20530ppOffice of Public Affairs Direct Line2025142007ppDepartment of Justice Main Switchboard2025142000ppSignup for Email UpdatesSocial MediappppHave a question about Government Servicesp
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ppArchived NewsppA civilian employee of the US Air Force assigned to the US Strategic Command USSTRATCOM at Offutt Air Force Base pleaded guilty today to conspiring to transmit classified information relating to the national defense National Defense Information on a foreign online dating platform beginning in or around February 2022 until in or around April 2022ppThe defendant an employee of the United States Air Force with access to some of our Nations 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 themppAccess 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 persons motives said US Attorney Lesley A Woods for the District of NebraskappMr Slater betrayed an oath he made to safeguard our nations intelligence said Special Agent in Charge Eugene Kowel of the FBI Omaha Field Office Leveraging his access to sensitive information Mr Slater chose to transmit material that put our country at risk The FBI is extremely thankful for the work of our partners in this case We will continue to partner together to defend the homeland by aggressively investigating and apprehending criminals and adversaries who pose a threat to our nations securityppAccording to court documents David Franklin Slater 64 of Nebraska after retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel from the US Army worked in a classified space at USSTRATCOM and held a Top Secret security clearance from in or around August 2021 until in or around April 2022 Slater pleaded guilty to willfully improperly and unlawfully conspiring to transmit National Defense Information classified as SECRET which he had reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nation on a foreign online dating platform to a person not authorized to receive such informationppAccording to court documents Slater attended USSTRATCOM briefings regarding Russias war against Ukraine that were classified up to TOP SECRETSENSITIVE COMPARTMENTED INFORMATION TSSCI Slater then conspired to transmit classified National Defense Information that he learned from those briefings via the foreign online dating websites messaging platform to his coconspirator who claimed to be a female living in Ukraine on the foreign dating website The coconspirator regularly asked Slater to provide her with sensitive nonpublic closely held and classified National Defense Information and called Slater in their messages her secret informant love and her secret agent In furtherance of that conspiracy Slater did in fact transmit classified National Defense Information to her including regarding military targets and Russian military capabilities relating to Russias invasion of UkraineppThe charge of conspiracy to transmit national defense information provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to 250000 Slater is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct 8 A federal judge will determine any sentence after considering the US Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factorsppThe FBI Omaha Field Office and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations are investigating this caseppAssistant US Attorney Donald Kleine for the District of Nebraska and Trial Attorney Emma Dinan Ellenrieder of the National Security Divisions Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the caseppAn Iranian national and US lawful permanent resident has been arrested on a fourcount federal indictment charging him with unlawfully exporting electronics used in railway signaling and telecommunications systems fromppThe Justice Department announced today that Xu Zewei 徐泽伟 33 of the Peoples Republic of China was arrested on July 3 in Italy at the request of the United States ppEdward Kelley 36 of Maryville Tennessee was sentenced to life in prison today in the Eastern District of Tennessee at KnoxvilleppOffice of Public AffairsUS Department of Justice950 Pennsylvania Avenue NWWashington DC 20530ppOffice of Public Affairs Direct Line2025142007ppDepartment of Justice Main Switchboard2025142000ppSignup for Email UpdatesSocial MediappppHave a question about Government Servicesp
