Unless you're these clowns:
Posted on 09/25/2008 2:27:17 AM PDT by csvset
A Newport News physicist has been charged with violating federal arms-control laws by selling rocket technology to China that's now being used in that country's space program.
Quan-Sheng Shu, 68, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Shanghai, was arrested Wednesday morning and made an initial appearance that afternoon in U.S. District Court in Norfolk. He is being held in jail pending a bond hearing Monday.
Selling defense and space technology to China or other prohibited countries without a license is a violation of the federal Arms Export Control Act.
Shu operates Amac International Inc. at the Applied Research Center in the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Newport News.
He is accused of selling technology to China, using a French company as an intermediary, for the development of hydrogen-propelled rockets, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday afternoon. The complaint says China paid him more than $250,000.
He also is charged with bribing Chinese officials to push the sale through.
China is currently developing an advanced space facility on the southern island of Hainan.
"This facility will house liquid-propelled heavy payload launch vehicles designed to send space station and satellites into orbit, as well as provide support for manned space flight and future lunar missions," the complaint says.
China has been trying to advance its space program for years with the ultimate goal of putting a man on the moon, according to news reports. Later this week, China plans to launch three astronauts into space and conduct its first space walk. The country also currently has an unmanned probe orbiting the moon.
"China has independently developed the 'Long March' rocket group," the country's state-run newspaper, the China Daily, reported last fall. "Now China has a matured technology to develop propellants made from liquid hydrogen."
That report came about eight months after Shu completed his deal with the Chinese government, according to U.S. authorities. The court records do not indicate a connection, however.
The FBI and the Justice Department declined to comment beyond what is in the criminal complaint. FBI spokesman Phil Mann in Norfolk would only say that Shu was arrested at his home. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan M. Salsbury also declined to comment after the brief court hearing.
Shu appeared to be shaking and bewildered at his court appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge James E. Bradberry. He had no attorney and no family in the courtroom.
"You are before this court charged with serious offenses," Bradberry told him.
"I can give a detailed explanation with my lawyer," Shu said.
The judge halted him, telling him this wasn't the time.
After Bradberry told him he would be spending the next five days in jail pending his bond hearing, Shu pleaded to be released.
Shu was born in Shanghai in 1940. He studied physics in college, ultimately receiving his doctorate in the subject in 1970. He taught at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, while at the same time working for the U.S. Department of Energy at its Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Chicago, according to the complaint.
He moved to the United States in the mid-1980s, first conducting research at the University of Washington in Seattle. He later moved to Newport News, where he incorporated Amac in 1998, the same year he obtained his citizenship, the complaint says.
He and his company "developed cryogenic transfer and storage technology for liquid propellants used in aerospace technology," the complaint says. His technology, used by NASA, has helped extend space missions by saving fuel and reducing launch mass, the complaint says.
The 16-page document lays out four years of alleged dealings between Shu, an unidentified French company and the Chinese government.
Amac, which has a branch office in Beijing, and Shu signed an agreement in 2003 with the French company to provide technical expertise to the Chinese government, the complaint says.
In December that year, according to the complaint, Shu sent to the Chinese government technical design drawings of liquid hydrogen tanks along with other information pertaining to their performance, testing and use.
Shu, the French company and China spent the next four years negotiating for the sale of the technology, the complaint says. During several points in the negotiations, Chinese officials told Shu that German and Russian competitors were offering higher "kickbacks" to secure the deal, the complaint says.
The complaint does not explain how that issue was resolved, if at all, but Shu ultimately won the project and was paid in January 2007, the complaint says.
If convicted, Shu faces up to 10 years in prison for each of two violations of the arms control act and five years for the bribery charge.
Tim McGlone, (757) 446-2343, tim.mcglone@pilotonline.com
Unless you're these clowns:
again.
no leniency, no mercy
screw the bastard who was screwing our country
I guess this guy guy hadn’t heard of the new technology transfer program: the
“sandypants classified document courier”
“Scientist charged with illegally selling technology to China”
I knew immediately from the headline that it would be a Chinese national. They are all over our univeristy and industrial labs and have access to our most advanced technology. They LOVE China and have no problem selling or giving their knowlege back to their country. What costs us Billions to fund in research the Chinese get for FREE.
When is the US going to stop allowing foreign nationals access to sensitive information.
My guess is never. The Chinese burn us over and over again.
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