Former US Army Lt. Col. sent defense secrets over dating site to Ukrainian love interest

A former US Army Lieutenant Colonel pleaded guilty on Thursday to sending his Ukrainian "girlfriend" classified defense secrets over a foreign dating site during the height of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) said 64-year-old David Franklin Slater, a retired Army LT. Col-turned-civilian-employee was working in a classified space at the US Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) in Omaha, Nebraska, when the breach of national security took place.

The former military officer had retired from the US Army sometime before 2021.

It was then that he began working for the US Air Force Strategic Command, where he was granted a Top Secret security clearance from roughly August 2021 through April 2022 – overlapping with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Air Force Employee Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Disclose Unlawfully Classified National Defense Information https://t.co/mtJzPzDCNy

undefined National Security Division, U.S. Dept of Justice (@DOJNatSec) July 10, 2025

During this time period, Slater is said to have joined a foreign online dating platform and became “involved” with someone who claimed to be a woman living in Ukraine.

Slater on Thursday admitted to using the dating platform to transmit top secret material to his Ukrainian love interest just as the war began, and over the next two months until April 2022.

Using pet nicknames like “secret informant love” and her “secret agent,” apparently, the so-called love interest regularly asked the Air Force employee for “sensitive, non-public, closely held, and classified National Defense Information.”

Should have known better

DoJ officials say the former military member knew the materials were classified as ‘SECRET’ and could be used by a foreign nation or adversarial actors to cause injury to the United States.

Furthermore, the DoJ says Slater would also have been aware that any person on a foreign dating site would not be authorized to receive such information.

“Access to classified information comes with great responsibility,” 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,” Woods said.

According to court documents, Slater was said to have attended USSTRATCOM briefings regarding the Russian invasion that were classified up to TOP SECRET//SENSITIVE COMPARTMENTED INFORMATION (TS//SCI).

Information learned from the briefings was transmitted to his cconspirator via the dating platform’s messaging service, including information on military targets and Russian military capabilities relating to the war.

Slater faces up to 10 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000 on the conspiracy charge. Sentencing is set for October 8th.