A lovestruck US Air Force employee has pleaded guilty to conspiring to transmit confidential national defense information after sharing military secrets information about the Russia-Ukraine war with a woman he met on a dating app.

David Franklin Slater, a 64-year-old Nebraska resident and retired US Army lieutenant colonel, worked as a civilian employee of the US Air Force assigned to Strategic Command at Offutt Air Force Base and held a Top Secret security clearance from August 2021 to April 2022.

You are my secret informant love. You are my secret agent. How were your meetings?

In this role, he attended briefings about Russia's war against Ukraine that were classified up to Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) — and signed a non-disclosure agreement stating that he understood that "negligent handling of SCI by me could cause irreparable injury to the United States or to be used to advantage by a foreign nation," according to court documents

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That didn’t stop Slater from sharing classified information with a woman who identified as a foreigner on an online dating platform.

Slater's supposed love interest is only referred to as "co-conspirator 1" in the indictment, and according to the Justice Department the two "regularly communicated over email and through an online messaging platform" from February 2022 until April 2022.

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The start of their alleged online dalliance coincided with both Russia’s illegal invasion of its neighbor and Valentine's Day. The woman allegedly described Slater as her "secret informant love."

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"During this time, Co-Conspirator 1 regularly asked David Franklin Slater to provide her with sensitive, non-public, closely held, and classified NDI, to which David Franklin Slater had access as a result of his employment with the United States Air Force," the indictment states.

And then it gets into the good stuff, with examples of co-conspirator 1's war-time pillow talk, which ultimately convinced Slater to transmit classified national defense information to his online paramour. This secret info included military targets, and Russian military capabilities relating to the war in Ukraine.

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Here are some of the messages:

"Dear, what is shown on the screens in the special room?? It is very interesting."

"By the way, you were the first to tell me that NATO members are traveling by train and only now (already evening) this was announced on our news. You are my secret informant love! How were your meetings? Successfully?"

"Beloved Dave, do NATO and Biden have a secret plan to help us?"

"Dave, it's great that you get information about [Specified Country 1] first. I hope you will tell me right away? You are my secret agent. With love."

"Sweet Dave, the supply of weapons is completely classified, which is great!"

"Access to classified information comes with great responsibility," [9]said US Attorney Lesley A. Woods for the District of Nebraska. "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."

The charge of conspiracy to transmit national defense information carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.

The court has scheduled Slater's sentencing hearing for October 8. ®

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[1] https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/07/10/david_franklin_slater_indictment.pdf

[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aHCMW4sJymEIiDBgnz71dQAAAgg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0

[3] https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/13/teixeira_prison_discord/

[4] https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/23/infosec_news_in_brief/

[5] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/02/waltz_gmail_security/

[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/10/romance_scammers_cost_victims_13b/

[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aHCMW4sJymEIiDBgnz71dQAAAgg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aHCMW4sJymEIiDBgnz71dQAAAgg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[9] https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/air-force-employee-pleads-guilty-conspiracy-disclose-unlawfully-classified-national-defense

[10] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/