Former Raytheon Engineer Sentenced for Exporting Sensitive Military Related Technology to China

A former Army Green Beret pleaded guilty today to conspiring with Russian intelligence operatives to provide them with United States national defense information.

According to court documents, from December 1996 to January 2011, Peter Rafael Dzibinski Debbins, 45, of Gainesville, a former member of the U.S. Army, conspired with agents of a Russian intelligence service. During that time, Debbins periodically visited Russia and met with Russian intelligence agents. In 1997, Debbins was assigned a code name by Russian intelligence agents and signed a statement attesting that he wanted to serve Russia.

“Debbins today acknowledged that he violated this country’s highest trust by passing sensitive national security information to the Russians,” said John C. Demers, Assistant Attorney General for National Security. “Debbins betrayed his oath, his country, and his Special Forces team members with the intent to harm the United States and help Russia. Debbins’s guilty plea represents another success in the Department’s continuing effort to counter the national security threat posed by our nation’s adversaries, including Russia.”

“Our country entrusted Debbins with the responsibility and training to protect it from its adversaries,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “Debbins betrayed that trust and betrayed his fellow service members by conspiring to provide national defense information to Russian intelligence operatives. I would like to commend our investigative partners for their steadfast and dogged dedication to bringing Debbins to justice and holding him accountable for his crimes.”

From 1998 to 2005, Debbins served on active duty as an officer in the U.S. Army, serving in chemical units before being selected for the U.S. Army Special Forces. The Russian intelligence agents encouraged him to join and pursue a career in the Special Forces, which he did, where he served at the rank of Captain.

Over the course of the conspiracy, Debbins provided the Russian intelligence agents with information that he obtained as a member of the U.S. Army, including information about his chemical and Special Forces units. In 2008, after leaving active duty service, Debbins disclosed to the Russian intelligence agents classified information about his previous activities while deployed with the Special Forces. Debbins also provided the Russian intelligence agents with the names of, and information about, a number of his former Special Forces team members so that the agents could evaluate whether to approach the team members to see if they would cooperate with the Russian intelligence service.

“Debbins betrayed this nation and his fellow serviceman, putting Americans and our national security at risk by providing national defense information to Russia’s Intelligence Service,” said Steven M. D’Antuono, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office. “Despite being entrusted to protect his colleagues and U.S. national security, he chose to abuse this trust by knowingly providing classified information to one of our most aggressive adversaries. Today’s plea is an example of the zealous pursuit of justice that the FBI and our partners stand for and work tirelessly to achieve every day.”

“President Kennedy called the Green Berets ‘a symbol of excellence, a badge of courage, a mark of distinction.’ Mr. Debbins’ actions were a symbol of betrayal, a badge of cowardice, and a mark of treachery,” said Alan E. Kohler, Jr., Assistant Director of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division. “He pledged his allegiance to Russia, and in doing so, sold-out his country and fellow Green Berets. This case should serve as a reminder that the FBI and its investigative partners will stop at nothing to hold an individual accountable for their actions.”

Debbins is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 26, 2021. He faces a maximum penalty of life in prison. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas W. Traxler and James L. Trump, and Trial Attorney David Aaron of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, are prosecuting the case.

U.S. Attorney Terwilliger and Assistant Attorney General Demers greatly appreciate the assistance of Army Counterintelligence, the FBI’s Minneapolis Field Office, the United Kingdom’s Metropolitan Police Service, and MI5.

[Today, Wei Sun, 49, a Chinese national and naturalized citizen of the United States, was sentenced to 38 months in prison by District Court Judge Rosemary Marquez. Sun previously pleaded guilty to one felony count of violating the Arms Export Control Act (AECA).

Sun was employed in Tucson for 10 years as an electrical engineer with Raytheon Missiles and Defense. Raytheon Missiles and Defense develops and produces missile systems for use by the United States military. During his employment with the company, Sun had access to information directly related to defense-related technology. Some of this defense technical information constituted what is defined as “defense articles,” which are controlled and prohibited from export without a license under the AECA and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (the ITAR).

From December 2018 to January 2019, Sun traveled from the United States to China on a personal trip. On that trip, Sun brought along unclassfified technical information in his company-issued computer, including data associated with an advanced missile guidance system that was controlled and regulated under the AECA and the ITAR. Despite having been trained to handle these materials correctly, Sun knowingly transported the information to China without an export license in violation of the AECA and the ITAR.

“Sun was a highly skilled engineer entrusted with sensitive missile technology that he knew he could not legally transfer to hostile hands,” said Assistant Attorney General John C. Demers. “Nevertheless, he delivered that controlled technology to China. Today’s sentence should stand as a warning to others who might be tempted similarly to put the nation’s security at risk.”

“The United States relies on private contractors to help build our unparalleled defense technology,” said United States Attorney Michael Bailey. “People who try to expose that technology to hostile foreign powers should know that prison awaits them. The close cooperation of the victim defense contractor and the dedication of the FBI made this case a success.”

“This isn’t about a laptop mistakenly taken on a trip, this was the illegal export of U.S. missile technology to China,” said Assistant Director Alan E. Kohler, Jr. of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division. “The FBI will continue to partner with companies to protect their information and our national security while bringing criminals such as Wei Sun to justice.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, investigated this matter with the assistance of Raytheon Missiles and Defense. Beverly K. Anderson and Nicole P. Savel, Assistant United States Attorneys, and William Mackie from the National Security Division, Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, handled the prosecution.]

[Back when we executed traitors. This ch**k got what 38 months prison? He will be out in two years or less.]

The Rosenbergs were technically executed for espionage, not treason, which comes into play in wartime. The death penalty remains a live option for espionage. The threat of the needle was said to be what moved Robert Hanssen to plead guilty instead of fighting it out in court.

IIRC, the Rosenbergs were the only spies ever executed in peacetime, perhaps because of the nature of the material lost. This case involved a plea deal. I bet this defendant got 3 years because the threat of the death penalty for something like this was not credible.

I personally think spies should given long prison terms. But given the way Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen* sent a number of spies to their deaths and only got life sentences, this is probably proportionate. (Even Larry Chin**, the !$#% who got who knows how many GI’s killed in Korea, got less than a life term).

* Thanks to Hanssen, Felix Bloch, yet another Jewish spy, spent zero time in prison. Basically, human resources are what they are. You use the best you can get after a lengthy vetting and watch them like hawks. Most will be fine. The ones that aren’t - that’s why we have an FBI.

I can’t speak to defense contracting, but civilian tech is lousy with Orientals. That’s just the way it currently is. In chips, the two leading graphics chip manufacturers (ATI and Nvidia) were founded by Orientals. Gilead, the guys who came up with the failed Ebola drug, remdisivir, as well as a cure for Hep C, is 38% Asian. No telling what % is Oriental, but I’d bet a substantial chunk, given trend of the names I see every time I hear of some new thing in the life sciences.

https://www.gilead.com/careers/inclusion-and-diversity

It’s just one of those things. A bit of risk but not much of a choice, given the talent pool.

** Chin was exposed by a Chinese spy chief who defected to the US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yu_Qiangsheng That would be like the CIA chief defecting to some foreign country. https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:umzfnaxwn8gJ:https://www.theepochtimes.com/former-fbi-head-refutes-claim-that-chinese-spy-was-assassinated_1982209.html+&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-b-1-d While the Chinese intelligence agencies are catching minnows, the CIA is landing some whales. The most recent whale: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ling_Wancheng

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