According to the prosecution, two sailors in California transmitted sensitive information and U.S. military secrets to Chinese intelligence agents.
One of the two Navy sailors accused of spying was assigned to a ship based at Naval Base San Diego. The charges appear to reflect the Chinese government’s deep interest in the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet.Credit…Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images
According to two unsealed federal charges released on Thursday, two Navy sailors were detained in Southern California and accused of giving sensitive material to Chinese intelligence agents, including military secrets.
Under the Espionage Act, Jinchao Wei, also known as Patrick Wei, 22, was accused of espionage for the Chinese. Mr. Wei is a member of the crew of the amphibious assault ship Essex, which is stationed in the Pacific Fleet’s home base, Naval Base San Diego. He had clearance as a machinist’s mate, according to investigators, which allowed him access to confidential national security information.
The second sailor, Petty official Wenheng Zhao, commonly known as Thomas, 26, was accused of accepting payments in exchange for giving a Chinese intelligence official acting as an economist valuable information about the U.S. military. Mr. Zhao was employed by the Pacific Fleet’s naval construction battalions at the Naval Base Ventura County in Port Hueneme, which is home to many aircraft squadrons.
The accusations seem to be part of a larger attempt by China to acquire American business and national security secrets, and they seem to reflect the Chinese government’s keen interest in the Navy’s Pacific Fleet and other facets of the American military’s operations there. The alarm has already been raised due to the scope of Chinese espionage, including cyberattacks, by top national security authorities. “There is no country that presents a more significant threat to our innovation, our ideas, our economic security, and our national security than the Chinese government,” said Christopher A. Wray, director of the FBI, in testimony before Congress this year.
Mr. Wei, 22, a naturalised citizen, decided to “betray his newly adopted country,” according to Randy S. Grossman, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California, in a news conference on Thursday in San Diego. Mr. Wei had the option of reporting inappropriate contact from a Chinese intelligence officer, but instead chose to “betray his newly adopted country.”
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According to Mr. Grossman, the Espionage Act provision under which Mr. Wei was charged has only been applied a few times in recent years, highlighting how serious the offence is. San Diego was particularly hard hit by the betrayal, he continued.
San Diego and the US Navy have a long history together, he noted. This behaviour is therefore personal to San Diego, and we will not tolerate it.
According to the prosecution, Mr. Wei started working for the Chinese in early 2022. He is an engineer trained to operate and maintain a variety of equipment, from small pumps to freezers to enormous gear for moving a ship through the ocean while serving as a machinist’s mate for the Navy.
He spoke over encrypted systems and sent his operator information about the U.S. warships’ defensive and offensive capabilities as well as their weaknesses. The Chinese intelligence official once questioned Mr. Wei in June of last year about “the number and training of U.S. Marines during an upcoming international maritime warfare exercise.”
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Another time, according to the court document, Mr. Wei was paid $5,000 for 30 technical and mechanical ship manuals. The U.S. Navy classified some of Mr. Wei’s knowledge as “critical technology” that he gave to the Chinese.
Warships like the Essex, according to a news release from the Justice Department, are the “cornerstone of the U.S. Navy’s amphibious readiness and expeditionary strike capabilities.”
According to the indictment, Mr. Wei was obviously trying to obtain American citizenship while secretly working for the Chinese, and his handler even congratulated him when he succeeded.
According to the second charge, Mr. Zhao, a Monterey Park resident, worked under the supervision of an unidentified Chinese intelligence officer from August 2021 until at least May of this year.
Electrical schematics and designs for a radar system installed on a U.S. military installation in Okinawa, Japan, as well as operational plans for a significant U.S. military exercise in the Indo-Pacific region were among the classified information he supplied the officer. Prosecutors said that these plans specified the precise time and location of logistics assistance, maritime operations, amphibious landings, and movements of naval forces.
Mr. Zhao was not prosecuted under the Espionage Act, but according to a news release from the Justice Department, he could spend 20 years in jail if found guilty.
According to the prosecution, both individuals surreptitiously worked for the Chinese and made thousands of dollars.
The arrests come a year after the Justice Department discontinued a divisive programme to counter Chinese national security risks that was started under the Trump administration. Critics claimed that the programme unfairly singled out professors of Asian ancestry and contributed to a rise in anti-Asian sentiment.
The chief F.B.I. agent in San Diego, Stacey Moy, stressed to reporters during the news conference that “this is not and will never be an indictment of the Chinese people or ethnically Chinese Americans.”
The men were scheduled to appear before federal judges in Los Angeles and San Diego’s U.S. District Court on Thursday.
Reporting was given by John Ismay.
Adam Goldman, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, is a Washington, D.C.-based reporter who focuses on the F.B.I. and national security. He is a co-author of the book “Enemies Within: Inside the NYPD’s Secret Spying Unit and bin Laden’s Final Plot Against America.” Information on Adam Goldman
