A civilian Air Force employee and retired Army lieutenant colonel is facing federal charges of leaking classified national defense information related to the war between Ukraine and Russia to someone on a foreign dating platform.

David Franklin Slater, 63, of Nebraska, was arrested Saturday and charged with one count of conspiracy to disclose national defense information and two counts of unauthorized disclosure of national defense information, the Justice Department announced Monday. He is scheduled to make his first court appearance Tuesday at U.S. District Court in Omaha, Nebraska.

According to federal prosecutors, Slater worked for U.S. Strategic Command at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska and held top-secret security clearance. He attended Strategic Command briefings about the war in Ukraine that were classified up to the level of “TOP SECRET//SENSITIVE COMPARTMENTED INFORMATION,” charging documents said.

From in or around February 2022 to April 2022 — the early months of the war in Ukraine — Slater “willfully, improperly, and unlawfully” shared classified information from those briefings with the unnamed co-conspirator on the dating platform, the Justice Department said. Slater had reason to believe the information could be used to harm the United States or a foreign nation, prosecutors said.

The co-conspirator claimed to be a female living in Ukraine, according to the indictment. The person regularly asked Slater to provide her with classified information and referred to Slater as her “secret informant love” and her “secret agent,” prosecutors said. 

Slater, in turn, allegedly shared information about military targets and Russian military capabilities. 

“Dear what is shown on the screens in the special room?? It is very interesting,” the co-conspirator wrote in a message on March 11, 2022, according to the indictment. 

“By the way, you were the first to tell me that NATO members are traveling by train and only now (already evening) this was announced on our news,” the person wrote March 15. “You are my secret informant love!”

“Dave, it’s great that you get information about [Specified Country 1] first,” the co-conspirator wrote on March 23, 2022. “I hope you will tell me right away? You are my secret agent. With love.”

“Sweet Dave, the supply of weapons is completely classified, which is great!” the person wrote on April 12, 2022.

Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen said Slater showed “blatant disregard for the security of his country and his oath to safeguard its secrets.”

“The Department of Justice will seek to hold accountable those who knowingly and willfully put their country at risk by disclosing classified information,” Olsen said in a statement Monday. 

If convicted, Slater faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count.

It wasn't immediately clear if he had a lawyer. 

The announcement of his arrest came on the same day that Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira pleaded guilty to leaking classified information on the social media platform Discord, also about the war in Ukraine as well as other national security secrets.

Teixeira’s plea agreement calls for a prison sentence between 11 and nearly 17 years. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.