A retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel from Auburn, Nebraska, has been sentenced to nearly six years in federal prison for leaking national security information about the Russia-Ukraine war.
David Slater, 63, received five years and ten months behind bars along with a $25,000 fine after pleading guilty to a conspiracy charge in July. U.S. District Judge Brian Buescher handed down the sentence on Wednesday.
According to court records, Slater was working as a civilian employee with top-secret clearance at the Offutt-based U.S. Strategic Command when he disclosed classified military details online to someone he believed was a Ukrainian woman he met on a dating site. The communications, which spanned three months in 2022, included sensitive information about Russian military capabilities and potential targets.
A grand jury indictment revealed messages in which the woman repeatedly pressed Slater for defense details, calling him her “secret agent” and “secret informant.” On April 14, 2022, she even thanked him for “valuable information” about visiting U.S. officials—the same day Senator Steve Daines of Montana and Representative Victoria Spartz of Indiana became the first American lawmakers to travel to Ukraine after the war began.
Slater’s military career spanned nearly 40 years, from 1981 to 2020. He served as a logistician and completed multiple combat deployments, including tours in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Qatar.
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