Two US Navy sailors have been indicted and arrested for allegedly sending sensitive US military information to Chinese intelligence officers.
One of the sailors, Jinchao Wei, was arrested Wednesday as he arrived for work at Naval Base San Diego, according to a statement released, late Thursday, by the US Attorney for the Southern District of California.
The base is one of the largest Navy installations in the Pacific.
The other sailor who has been arrested, Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao, worked at Naval Base Ventura County in Port Hueneme in California. The indictment against Wei, unsealed Thursday, is separate from the charges against Zhao.
“The charges demonstrate the (People?’s Republic of China?’s) determination to obtain information that is critical to our national defense by any means, so it can be used to their advantage,” Matt Olson, the Justice Department?’s assistant attorney general for national security, said at a news conference Thursday.
Prosecutors say that Wei, who served as a machinist?’s mate on the USS Essex, allegedly entered into a “handler/asset” relationship with a Chinese intelligence officer beginning in February 2022.
Machinist?’s mates are a class of engineers responsible for operating, maintaining and repairing ship equipment.
As part of that alleged arrangement, Wei sent photos and videos of the Essex and other Navy ships to the Chinese officer, the indictment says, as well as dozens of technical and mechanical manuals relating to the ships?’ layouts and weapons systems. In return, Wei allegedly received thousands of dollars.
The indictment indicates that Wei received US citizenship during this period, with the Chinese intelligence officer allegedly congratulating Wei on receiving citizenship on May 18, 2022.
Much of the information Wei allegedly sent to the Chinese officer was stored on restricted-access Navy computer systems that Wei was able to access because he had a security clearance.
The indictment against Zhao, meanwhile, alleges that between August 2021 and May 2023, he provided sensitive US military information including operational plans for a major military exercise in the Indo-Pacific to a person posing as a maritime economic researcher. That person was actually a Chinese intelligence officer, the indictment says.
Zhao, who was responsible for installing, repairing and servicing electrical equipment on US military installations, also had a security clearance, prosecutors said, and allegedly took photos of computer screens that displayed “operational orders of military training exercises” and provided them to the officer.
He also allegedly transmitted photos of blueprints and diagrams of a US radar system stationed on a military base in Okinawa, Japan, prosecutors said. Those documents were marked unclassified/for official use only, but prosecutors said that as part of his official duties Zhao “was required to protect controlled unclassified information, and information related to the Navy?’s operational security.” He was also required to report suspicious incidents, the court filing stated
Source: Kuwait News Agency
