My Threatcon Column: A Spy For Love

 My Threatcon column appeared on Counterterrorism magazine’s website. 

You can read the column via the link below or the text below:

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Before I became a full-time writer, I was a Defense Department civilian employee performing security work at the Defense Personnel Support Center in South Philadelphia.

Known locally as the “Quartermaster,” as the compound was an U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps (supply) depot in World War I, the center was the second largest Defense Department procurement command. (I covered the multi-million-dollar bribery and procurement fraud case at the Quartermaster in the Journal in 2021).

As the administrative officer of a Defense Department tenant command at the Quartermaster that oversaw defense contractors in eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware, I was responsible for all security programs from physical security to personnel security. I briefed new DOD personnel on security matters, and I debriefed personnel who were leaving the command. I also performed counterintelligence, counterterrorism, travel security, cyber security, and other security briefings and seminars to the military and civilian members of the command. And I served as an investigating officer involving security violations, other security issues and crimes.

Originally trained and experienced in security work while serving as an enlisted teenage sailor aboard the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk during the Vietnam War, I became a Defense Department employee after leaving the Navy. Over the years, I attended a good number of Defense Department, FBI, CIA, NSA and DIA briefings on various security issues and threats, including the “Insider Threat.”

Although Defense Department security people were concerned rightly with foreign adversaries gaining classified information, the insider threat was also a major cause of concern. The insider threat came from trusted, cleared employees who choose to reveal classified information to a foreign adversary. To the best of my knowledge, our command did not have a trusted employee who gave away classified information, although one of the contractors we oversaw employed a man who was convicted of spying for the Communist Chinese.   

I recall an FBI special agent telling me about the motivation of people who betray their country. He mentioned “MICE,” an acronym for “Money, Ideology, Compromise, and Ego,” the primary motives of a spy and traitor.

One also becomes a spy for love.

A case in point is a former Air Force civilian employee of the U.S. Air Force assigned to the U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) at Offutt Air Force Base who pleaded guilty on July 10^th to conspiring to transmit classified information relating to the national defense on a foreign online dating platform beginning in or around February 2022 until in or around April 2022.

“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.”

Lesley A. Woods, The U.S. Attorney for the District of Nebraska, added, “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.” 

Eugene Kowel, the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Omaha Field Office,  noted, “Mr. Slater betrayed an oath he made to safeguard our nation's intelligence. 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 nation's security.”

According to court documents, David Franklin Slater, 64, of Nebraska, after retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel from the U.S. 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 information.

“Slater attended USSTRATCOM briefings regarding Russia’s war against Ukraine that were classified up to TOP SECRET//SENSITIVE COMPARTMENTED INFORMATION (TS//SCI). Slater then conspired to transmit classified National Defense Information that he learned from those briefings via the foreign online dating website’s messaging platform to his co-conspirator, who claimed to be a female living in Ukraine on the foreign dating website,” the Justice Department stated. “The co-conspirator regularly asked Slater to provide her with sensitive, non-public, 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 Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

The 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 $250,000. Slater is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 8. A federal judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The FBI Omaha Field Office and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations are investigating this case.

When that FBI special agent told me about the “MICE,” acronym for “Money, Ideology, Compromise, and Ego,” I suggested to the FBI agent that they ought to come up with an acronym for “RAT.”

Paul Davis’ Threatcon column covers crime, espionage and terrorism.