Posted on 02/09/2010 3:24:37 AM PST by Cindy
SNIPPET: "(CNSNews.com) – With a message to Beijing to “stop sending your spies here,” a U.S. judge on Monday sentenced a Chinese-born former Boeing engineer to more than 15 years in prison for economic espionage and acting as an agent for China.
Although former Boeing engineer Dongfan Chung was convicted last July, his sentencing in the District Court in the Central District of California coincides with a rocky period in U.S.-China relations, amid disputes over Tibet, arms sales to Taiwan, Internet surveillance, and trade and climate change issues.
Sentencing Chung, 73, to 188 months in prison, Judge Cormac Carney said that he could not “put a price tag” on national security.
Carney presided over a 10-day trial which culminated last July in Chung, a naturalized U.S. citizen, being found guilty of acting as a foreign agent, conspiring to violate and violating the 1996 Economic Espionage Act, and making a false statement to the FBI."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...
Previously...
Note: The following tex SNIPPET is a quote:
July 16, 2009
http://losangeles.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel09/la071609.htm
Former Boeing Engineer Convicted of Economic Espionage in Theft of Space Shuttle Secrets for China
SANTA ANA, CA—A former Rockwell and Boeing engineer from Orange County was remanded into custody this morning after a federal judge convicted him of charges of economic espionage and acting as an agent of the People’s Republic of China, for whom he stole restricted technology and Boeing trade secrets, including information related to the Space Shuttle program and Delta IV rocket.
Dongfan “Greg” Chung, 73, of Orange, Calif., who was employed by Rockwell International from 1973 until its defense and space unit was acquired by Boeing in 1996, was found guilty by United States District Judge Cormac J. Carney, who presided over a three-week bench trial last month.
In his ruling read this morning in court, Judge Carney found Chung guilty of conspiracy to commit economic espionage, six counts of economic espionage to benefit a foreign country, one count of acting as an agent of the People’s Republic of China and one count of making false statements to the FBI.
Immediately following the reading of the verdicts, Judge Carney remanded Chung into custody, where he will remain until his sentencing, which was scheduled for November 9. Chung had been freed after being arrested by special agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and investigators with NASA in February 2008.
Chung, a native of China who is a naturalized United States citizen, held a “secret” security clearance when he worked at Rockwell and Boeing on the Space Shuttle program. He retired from the company in 2002, but the next year he returned to Boeing as a contractor, a position he held until September 2006. At trial last month, the government proved that Chung took and concealed Boeing trade secrets relating to the Space Shuttle and the Delta IV rocket, materials he acquired for the benefit of the PRC.
“Mr. Chung stole restricted technology for the benefit of a foreign nation, and as a result he has lost the freedom he was offered by this nation,” said United States Attorney Thomas P. O’Brien. “The stolen technology compromised not only the American company that developed and owned the trade secrets, but national security as well because the secrets could be used by the PRC to develop its own military technology.”
Salvador Hernandez, Assistant Director In Charge of the FBI in Los Angeles, stated: “The cost of Mr. Chung’s traitorous actions to American security and the economy cannot be quantified, but have now been exposed, and his ability to exploit critical technology has come to an end. FBI counter intelligence agents and NASA received the full cooperation of the Boeing Company in building this three-year investigation, the successful outcome of which marks the first conviction by trial under the Economic Espionage Act of 1996. I’m confident this milestone conviction will serve as a deterrent to would-be spies contemplating theft of precious U.S. secrets.” David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, said: “For years, Mr. Chung stole critical trade secrets from Boeing relating to the Space Shuttle and the Delta IV rocket – all for the benefit of the government of China. Today’s verdict should serve as a warning to others willing to compromise America’s economic and national security to assist foreign governments. The many agents, analysts and prosecutors who worked on this important case deserve special thanks for their efforts.”
The case against Chung resulted from an investigation into another engineer who worked in the United States and obtained sensitive military information for the PRC. That engineer, Chi Mak, and several of his family members were convicted of providing defense articles to the PRC. Chi Mak was sentenced last year to more than 24 years in federal prison (see: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/cac/pressroom/pr2008/032.html). According to the evidence presented during the trial, individuals in the Chinese aviation industry began sending Chung “tasking” letters as early as 1979. Over the years, the letters directed Chung to collect specific technological information, including data related to the Space Shuttle and various military and civilian aircraft. Chung allegedly responded in one undated letter that “I would like to make an effort to contribute to the Four Modernizations of China.” In various letters to his handlers in the PRC, Chung referenced engineering manuals he had collected and sent to the PRC, including 24 manuals relating to the B-1 Bomber that Rockwell had prohibited from disclosure outside of the company and “selected federal agencies.”
Between 1985 and 2003, Chung made multiple trips to the PRC to deliver lectures on technology involving the Space Shuttle and other programs, and during those trips he met with PRC government officials, to include agents affiliated with the People’s Liberation Army. Chung and PRC officials exchanged letters that discussed Chung’s travel to China and recommended methods for passing information, including suggestions that Chung use Chi Mak and his wife Rebecca to transmit information. A May 2, 1987 letter from Gu Weihao, an official in the Ministry of Aviation and China Aviation Industry Corporation, discussed the possibility of inviting Chung’s wife, who is an artist, to visit an art institute so that Chung could use her trip as an excuse to travel to the PRC. This same letter suggested that passing information to the PRC through Chi Mak would be “faster and safer” and concluded with the statement: “It is your honor and China’s fortune that you are able to realize your wish of dedicating yourself to the service of your country.”
On September 11, 2006, FBI and NASA agents searched Chung’s house and found more than 250,000 pages of documents from Boeing, Rockwell and other defense contractors inside the house and in a crawl space underneath the house. Among the documents found in the crawl space were scores of binders containing decades’ worth of stress analysis reports, test results and design information for the Space Shuttle.
Each charge of economic espionage carries a maximum possible penalty of 15 years in federal prison and a $500,000 fine. The charge of acting as an agent of a foreign government carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. The charges of conspiracy to commit economic espionage and making false statements to federal investigators each carry a maximum possible penalty of five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.
In this morning’s ruling, Judge Carney acquitted Chung of one count of obstruction of justice.
I sure they will stop now. /sarcasm
Why would China care? They got what they wanted, and the spies are expendable. They have thousands more here and even more lined up to come here.
When is America going to learn to not allow this?
The fact that this spy was able to become a US citizen shows that we’re not screening prospective citizens as thoroughly as we should be.
Wonder how they say “Eat me, Judge” in Chinese?
I can show you hundreds of thousands of prospective citizens that will not be screened.
This guy had a bad lawyer....he really was already a citizen born in Hawaii and this was all just a big misunderstand and he's very sorry, and he did vote for Obama....... its a cultural thing ya know ;-)
I have no doubt. And sadly, we both know the system is designed to let in as many undesirables as possible.
If it were up to me, we'd only allow in as many people as could be thoroughly screened even if it is a tiny number of people.
And no more refugee importation programs either. They bring us nothing but trouble, especially if they come from muslim countries.
The Notion, that China would send spies to spy on us, is false.
“The Notion, that China would send spies to spy on us, is false.”
Are you being sarcastic?
Captain Obvious is probably around here somewhere.
F China. They are not a super power as you think they are.
ping
“Captain Obvious is probably around here somewhere.”
You never know now-a-days.
The Chinese have thousands of spies here.....
And so do the Russians. More than they did during the Cold War. And they can also use the intel services of the other CIS nations!
“With a message to Beijing to “stop sending your spies here,” a U.S. judge “
Yeah, that will work.
Spies at
MIT
Harvard
Caltech
everywhere else ;-)
Security at aerospace companies performing NASA work has always been poor. The civilian management could not fathom espionage. Most had no military experience.
I worked for Rockwell on the Space Shuttle at Downey. Don’t remember Chung. However, I spotted suspicious activity and reported to Security a number of possible foreign agents.
On one occasion the FBI approached one of our Directors who was trying to sell our services (legally) to the Japanese to help design their version of the Space Shuttle. The FBI said, “Your primary contact works for Mitsubishi AND the Japanese government. He tried to buy CLASSIFIED information at SAIC and we could not get enough proof to nail him. Will you help us?” Amazingly, our VP told the Director, “Don’t help the FBI or we will never get another Japanese contract.”
I hit the ceiling and went to Security, but I don’t think the VP was even reprimanded.
Technological espionage is carried out by both enemies and ALLIES. I spotted suspicious activity by Israel, France, Taiwan, India, the PRC, and the Russkies.
I wonder if that director you mentioned still works at Rockwell and has that same policy?
The VP got fired after he lost a big job.
However, he was NOT fired for his unpatriotic security breach.
That part of Rockwell was purchased by Boeing. A few years later Boeing got dinged for a huge fine for helping the Russkies improve the Zenit launch vehicle without getting permission to export the data. Same bunch of execs.
Aerospace companies putting profit ahead of national security is all too common.
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