Ex-US colonel leaked classified Ukraine war intelligence via dating app conversations – The Hill
Photo: EPA/ETIENNE LAURENT

A retired colonel will be tried in the United States for spreading secret information related to the Russo-Ukrainian war on a dating site, reported The Hill.

The indictment alleges that 63-year-old David Franklin Slater provided "National Defense Information (NDI) about the war in Ukraine on a foreign online dating platform and over email with an unidentified alleged female co-conspirator."

Slater was a civilian employee of the US Strategic Command located in Nebraska. He attended briefings about the war, which were held under the label "classified as up to top secret", the journalists report with reference to the document.

The suspect retired as a lieutenant colonel in the Army in December 2020 and worked for several years in the classified division of the US Strategic Command. He was most recently employed as a civilian employee of the Air Force in the District of Nebraska.

The prosecutor's office claims that despite signing a non-disclosure agreement, Slater transferred this data to a woman who lived in Ukraine between February and April 2022.

The indictment states that in correspondence with Slater, the woman referred to him as a "my secret informant love" and a "secret agent."

She thanked him "for valuable information that contained intelligence on military targets and Russian military capabilities," court documents state.

On April 6, 2023, the NYT reported the leak of secret Pentagon documents online, some of which relate to Ukraine's preparations for a counteroffensive (at the beginning of March). About 100 sheets of A4 presentation appeared, probably for the NATO military, some marked "top secret" and "not for foreigners".

On March 1, 2024, US Air National Guard Airman Jack Teixeira, who is accused of leaking classified intelligence, decided to change his plea of not guilty and plead guilty.