Interesting article from The Register, which raises the question: Which insiders are the enemy within?

Feds arrest DoD techie, claim he dumped top secret files in park for foreign spies to find

28-year-old alleged to have made multiple drops to folks who turned out to be undercocounts asver FBI agents

A Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) IT specialist is scheduled to appear in court today after being caught by the FBI trying to surreptitiously drop top secret information to a foreign government in a public park.

Nathan Vilas Laatsch, 28, of Alexandria, Virginia, was the subject of an FBI investigation after law enforcers claim they received a tip that Laatsch had advertised his willingness to transmit intelligence to a "friendly foreign government" back in March.

According to the DoJ, Laatsch is alleged to have stated that he did not "agree or align with the values of this administration and intend to act to support the values that the United States at one time stood for." He was therefore "willing to share classified information," feds are claiming.

The IT worker joined the DIA in 2019, held a top secret security clearance, and was part of its Insider Threat Division, which is dedicated to weeding out government personnel that is leaking or could likely leak sensitive information to foreign powers.

"I've given a lot of thought to this before any outreach, and despite the risks, the calculus has not changed," an affidavit submitted by the FBI agent investigating said Laatsch wrote: "I do not see the trajectory of things changing, and do not think it is appropriate or right to do nothing when I am in this position." [ ... ]

FBI director Kash Patel said via X: "This case underscores the persistent risk of insider threats. The FBI remains steadfast in protecting our national security and thanks our law enforcement partners for their critical support."

Apologies for the length of this copy/paste. I lack time to make it shorter* and still do it justice.

* Says he, wondering if it's Pascal he's channelling.