It’s pretty much common knowledge that dating sites are more akin to the Wild West (or Lord of the Flies) than anything romantic.
That said, being so intent on making a connection that you accidentally spill military secrets is a new low.
Or high, I guess, depending on who you ask.
Federal court filings reveal that former Air Force official David Slater has been charged with sharing top-secret information with a woman he met on a foreign dating site.
The woman was living in Ukraine during Russia’s invasion in 2022, and wasn’t exactly hiding the fact that she was interested in more than his good looks or sense of humor.
“You are my secret informant love!” she cried at one point.
Slater retired from the Army in 2020 and subsequently joined the Air Force in their Strategic Command in 2021. He was 63 years old and signed a top-secret non-disclosure agreement in which he surely promised not to disclose military secrets to any woman he might be trying to impress.
When Slater met “Co-Conspirator 1” in February of 2022, she asked things like “do NATO and Biden have a secret plan to help us?” and “the supply of weapons is completely classified, which is great!”
For his part, he shared classified intelligence documents with this person and is now being charged in federal court.
We’re seeing more cases like this, too: the Air National Guard member who posted Pentagon secrets to a Minecraft Discord server, for example.
I feel like these are things that are just common sense.
But what do I know. I’ve never served in the military.
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