Editorial written by Boston Herald Editorial Board
Anti-Trump resistance has sunk to a new low.
An employee of the Defense Intelligence Agency is accused of attempting to share classified material with a foreign government out of frustration with President Donald Trump, the Department of Justice said last week.
As Politico reported, Nathan Vilas Laatsch, who worked in IT for the military intelligence service, offered to share classified material with an unspecified “friendly foreign government,” according to court documents and an announcement by the DOJ.
“The recent actions of the current administration are extremely disturbing to me,” he said in the email, according to an FBI affidavit filed with the court. “I do 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.”
This is bound to ignite cheers with the incessant marchers decrying every move coming out of Washington and those who pepper their protest speech with cries of “fascist” and “Nazi.” It was also inevitable.
We live in a time in which people angry at Elon Musk and his actions at the Department of Government Efficiency have torched and vandalized random Teslas, and felt justified doing so. The murder of UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson did engender a sense of outrage — not at the act, but at the arrest of alleged shooter Luigi Mangione. Mangione has achieved folk hero status, a grotesque development.
And now, after posing as representatives of the “friendly foreign government” and receiving material from Laatsch, the FBI arrested him in northern Virginia. The kicker: Laatsch worked in the DIA’s Insider Threat Division, a unit devoted to detecting employees who might be disclosing or prone to disclose sensitive information.
He allegedly told authorities he was requesting citizenship in the foreign country because of conditions in the U.S.
Laatsch could have acted on those feelings by joining the “if Trump wins, I’m leaving the country” crowd and booked a ticket to virtually anywhere. Laatsch didn’t need to allegedly share classified material with a foreign entity to get on a plane. Apparently it’s not enough to vote with your feet, one must betray the country on your way out.
“I’ve given a lot of thought to this before any outreach, and despite the risks, the calculus has not changed,” the documents quoted him as writing. “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.”
Here’s what Laatsch could have done to channel his displeasure with the administration: vote for Democratic candidates. Leave his government job to work on Democratic campaigns and causes. That’s how citizens effect change in America.
“This case underscores the persistent risk of insider threats,” FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on X. Fortunately, the FBI flushed this one out.
There are many who share Laatsch’s views on the “trajectory of things changing” under Trump, just as a poll found most Americans believing the country was headed in the wrong direction in 2024.
Law-abiding Americans express their approval or disapproval at the ballot box. Betraying your country is not resistance, it’s a crime.
