2) EMAIL ADDRESS FAIL: The FBI rapidly got to the “anonymous” e-mail account utilized to send out the message. They discovered that, on the day that this account was established, it got a message from a 2nd e-mail account– perhaps as a test– which ended up being among Laatsch’s and included his name as part of the e-mail address.

3) EMAIL ACCOUNT FAIL: This 2nd e-mail account, when the FBI analyzed it, had actually been established utilizing Laatsch’s complete name, date of birth, and contact number.

4) IP ADDRESS FAIL: Both the very first and 2nd e-mail account had actually been logged into from the exact same IP address, recommending they were managed by the exact same individual. And the IP address that was utilized for them both dealt with to … Laatsch’s house.

The leaker did recommend moving the discussion to an encrypted messaging platform, however the damage was currently done.

The FBI instantly started a sting operation, impersonating the “friendly country,” asking Laatsch to copy some juicy information and supply it in a “dead drop” at a park in northern Virginia. Laatsch supposedly then entered to operate at DIA, utilizing his deep understanding of DIA digital tracking systems to prevent detection by … copying secret files into note pads by hand, then removing the sheets of paper and packing them in his socks.

This appears to have actually worked all right– other than for the truth that internal DIA “video monitoring” was seeing him do it, with FBI representatives keeping in mind even the methods Laatsch attempted to “hide his notebook” when colleagues strolled by. Whether Laatsch knew this video tracking system is uncertain.

On May 1, 2025, Laatsch apparently wrote his notes, kept them on a thumb drive, and dropped them as asked for at an Alexandria park. The drive was later on obtained by the FBI. On May 8, Laatsch informed his contact that he wasn’t looking for cash however “citizenship for your country” due to the fact that he didn’t “expect things here to improve in the long term, even in the event there is a change in the future.”

Laatsch was apprehended the other day, May 29.