Sweet Dave, Svetlana's Just Not That Into You
A retired Army officer allegedly passed US secrets to an online honeypot
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ALEX’S WEEKLY RANT
This week, the Department of Justice indicted David Slater, a retired Army lieutenant colonel working as a civilian at US Strategic Command (Stratcom), accusing him of passing national defense information to someone on a foreign dating site claiming to be a woman in Ukraine.
“My sweet Dave, thanks for the valuable information,” the woman wrote, after Slater provided her classified information about the travel of two American officials to Kyiv.
According to the indictment, Slater transmitted classified information related to Russia’s war in Ukraine to his online lover. She encouraged him to continue and soon began asking for specific information.
You have probably heard this type of operation referred to as a honeypot: when a covert operative uses sex and/or a romantic relationship to manipulate a target into doing something they shouldn’t do, such as—just as an example—steal secrets from Stratcom.
Meet Svetlana
In my former line of work, we used the name Svetlana as shorthand for this type of operation. Your online lover is cooing in your DMs and whispering how sexy you are. You, the target of this honeypot, imagine Svetlana like this:
That she isn’t typing or even near a computer is of no concern to you. She is communicating with you through her soul and her deep, penetrating eyes you have conjured up in your imagination based on a few almost naked pictures she has likely posted. She thinks you're great and hot and successful and masculine. She loves you! The way no other woman has before. Oh, Svetlana, I love you, too! You’re super hot, but I also love you for your brains. We share an interest in US national defense issues! You’re a rare gem who gets off on talk about military targets. Yeah, baby. Let me tell you about my missile!
But actually, this is Svetlana:
An overweight Russian named Boris who is slugging vodka and belching up borscht while typing with potato fingers.
The purported Ukrainian woman Slater was communicating with is not named in the indictment, but I shall refer to her as Svetlana.
Sweet Dave had so much he wanted to share with Svetlana. Unfortunately, much of what he wanted to share, and did share, was classified information.
“You are my secret informant love! How were your meetings? Successfully?" Svetlana wrote in her sexy not perfect English in one message.
Svetlana was appreciative, at least, and provided feedback. “Sweet Dave, the supply of weapons is completely classified, which is great!”
She also provided what we call “taskings,” encouraging Sweet Dave to look for specific information to provide to her. “Dave, I hope tomorrow NATO will prepare a very unpleasant ‘surprise’ for Putin! Will you tell me?” she wrote in one message. “Dave, it's great that you get information about [Specified Country 1] first. I hope you will tell me right away? You are my secret agent. With love,” she wrote in another.
It is also clear Sweet Dave shared with her his position and access, helping Svetlana direct him in his stealing of secrets. “You have a job in the Operations Center today, I remember, I'm sure there is a lot of interesting news there?” she wrote.
Military Targets and Military Capabilities
In the end, Svetlana’s seduction worked. Sweet Dave sent her national defense information regarding military targets related to the war in Ukraine and Russian military capabilities (allegedly). Slater has pleaded not guilty.
I am guessing the indictment leaves out a number of sexier messages from Svetlana: naked photos and seductive talk, designed to lure Slater into believing this woman thought he was the most masculine, virile stud around. All very scintillating and thrilling until I remind you again: it was fat Boris all along.
THE WEEK’S LINKS
A roundup of stories you should be reading
RUSSIAN SPIES IN EUROPE
Europe kicked out Vladimir Putin’s spies. Now they’re back. (FT)
RUSSIA TRAFFICKING HUMANS TO FIGHT IN UKRAINE
‘He had no idea he was being sent to a war zone’: the Indian and Nepalese men on frontlines in Ukraine (The Guardian)
Alex Finley is a former officer of the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, where she served in West Africa and Europe. She writes and teaches about terrorism, disinformation / covert influence, and oligarch yachts. Her writing has appeared in Slate, Reductress, Funny or Die, POLITICO, The Center for Public Integrity, and other publications. She has spoken to the BBC, MSNBC, CNN, C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, France24, and numerous other media outlets. She was also invited once to speak at Harvard, which she now tells everyone within the first ten seconds of meeting them. She is the author of the Victor Caro series, satirical novels about the CIA. Before joining the CIA, Alex was a journalist, covering Capitol Hill, the Pentagon, and the Department of Energy. She reported on issues related to national security, intelligence, and homeland security. Did she mention she was invited to speak at Harvard?
This retired light colonel makes A1C Teixeira look like a regular Kim Philby.
I have to ask why so many that serve, who supposedly have received training about these types of tactics, remain so gullible? Perhaps the training needs to be overhauled or refreshers required every 6 months? I worked for a company that required training on social engineering annually, I spotted and reported a possible culprit. It is scary how many that are supposed to be our defense, against all enemies foreign and domestic, are the problem as J6 made clear. 💔