Alleged Espionage Involving U.S. Secrets Being Delivered to China

According to Department of Justice officials, a Defense Department analyst and a former engineer for Boeing Co. are alleged to have helped deliver military secrets to the Chinese government in two separate unrelated cases.^[1] The FBI arrested one immigrant from China and another from Taiwan on Monday both of whom are accused of working with the defense analyst.^[2]

The two cases — based in California and Northern Virginia — are not related according to investigators, who stated that it was merely coincidence that both would be charged on the same day.^[3]

In the first case, prosecutors said Gregg W. Bergersen, a weapons systems policy analyst at the Department of Defense, provided classified defense information to a New Orleans furniture salesman.^[4] The furniture salesman, Taiwan native Tai Kuo, relayed that information to the Chinese government.^[5] Kuo’s alleged co-conspirator in the case was Chinese national Yu Xin Kang, who is accused of acting as the go-between for Kuo and China.^[6] There is no indication of how much money Bergersen was paid for the classified information or that he was conscious to the fact that it was being supplied to the Chinese government.^[7]

Prosecutors contend that the data allegedly supplied by Bergersen to Kuo documented every planned U.S. sale of military technology to Taiwan for the next five years.^[8]

Bergersen was charged under 18 U.S.C. § 793(d) with conspiracy to deliver national defense information to a person not entitled to receive it.^[9] This statute criminalizes any attempt to deliver to a person not authorized to receive it, any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, or note related to the national defense that could be used to injure the United States or give advantage to a foreign nation.^[10] Violation of this statute carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.^[11]

Kuo and Kang were both charged with conspiracy to deliver national defense information to a foreign government.^[12] Under 18 U.S.C. § 794 it is a crime to provide a foreign nation with any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, or note related to the national defense, with an intent to injure the United States or give an advantage to a foreign nation.^[13] Although the elements of Kuo and Kang’s charge and Bergersen’s charge are similar, Kuo and Kang face much stiffer penalties. The statute which they allegedly violated is a capital offense, meaning that they may face the death penalty or imprisonment for up to life without parole.^[14]
In the second case, ex-Boeing engineer, Donfang Chung, was subject to an FBI investigation that stems from an inquiry into another Chinese-born engineer convicted of stealing military data for the Chinese government in 2007.^[15]

Prosecutors contend that Chinese officials were tasking Chung to provide data on various U.S. military and civilian aircraft, including the Space Shuttle.^[16] Chung is accused of having met with Chinese government officials over an 18-year span during which he allegedly discussed how to transfer U.S. information to China.^[17]

Chung, the holder of a security clearance, worked for contractor Rockwell International for 13 years between 1973 and 1996, until Boeing acquired Rockwell's defense and space firm. In 2002, he retired from Boeing, but returned the next year as a contractor. He left Boeing completely in 2006.^[18]

Chung is also being charged with espionage, in addition to conspiracy and obstruction of justice.^[19]

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[1] Lara Jakes Jordan, Arrests Made in Chinese Spying Cases, The Washington Post, Feb. 12, 2008 (available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/12/AR2008021200316_pf.html).
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
[8] Id.
[9] Id.
[10] 18 U.S.C. § 793(d) (2008).
[11] Id.
[12] Lara Jakes Jordan, Arrests Made in Chinese Spying Cases, The Washington Post, Feb. 12, 2008 (available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/12/AR2008021200316_pf.html).
[13] 18 U.S.C. § 794 (2008).
[14] Id.
[15] Lara Jakes Jordan, Arrests Made in Chinese Spying Cases, The Washington Post, Feb. 12, 2008 (available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/12/AR2008021200316_pf.html).
[16] Id.
[17] Id.
[18] Id.
[19] Id.