March 5, 2024 at 05:08PM
David Franklin Slater, a US Air Force civilian employee, faces charges for disclosing secret information after falling for a romance scam online. With a top-secret security clearance, he transmitted classified national defense information to a person in Ukraine. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years and a $250,000 fine for each count.
The meeting notes provided detail the case of a US Air Force civilian employee charged with conspiracy to disclose national defense information (NDI) after allegedly being involved in a romance scam online. David Franklin Slater, a retired US Army lieutenant colonel, held a top-secret security clearance from August 2021 to April 2022 while working at US Strategic Command. It is noted that Slater transmitted secret NDI related to Russia-Ukraine war briefings to a person he believed to be a woman in Ukraine through a foreign dating app. The NDI transmitted was classified as Secret, and messages from the co-conspirator in Ukraine indicated requests for this information. Following his arrest, he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine for each count against him if convicted.