The Department of Justice (DOJ) said Thursday that three current and former US Army soldiers were arrested on charges that allegedly gathered sensitive military secrets and sold them to Chinese individuals.
US Army soldiers Jian Zhao, Li Tian and former Army soldier Ruoyu Duan have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in a multi-year conspiracy to leak military information to unknown Chinese citizens. According to To DOJ. moreover, Appeal To Zhao, he claims he viewed Intel as “top secret” and has received at least $15,000 for the information.
“The defendants arrested today are accused of betraying our country, weakening America’s defensive capabilities and working actively to empower China’s enemies,” Attorney General Pamela J. Bondy said in a statement. “They will face quick, harsh, comprehensive justice.” (Related: Trump threatens to turn Russian screws when Ukraine’s battlefield continues.)
China remains the most powerful geopolitical enemy of the United States, and the United States regularly engages in extensive espionage against the US Western Intelligence Agency, and has long been alerting Beijing’s network of highly sophisticated assets, espionage and cyber intelligence news agencies.
A 10th Mountain Division soldier is stuffing his ears while his comrades fires a 105mm how shellgun during a training mission for the future at Fort Drum in New York on May 18, 2016. (Photo: John Moore/Getty Images)
Zhao, a supply specialist for the unit, who has worked at Lewis McCord (JBLM) joint base since March 2020, has communicated with his co-conspirators via channels on the internet. This explains the indictment as “a foreigner with the aim of living in Changchong, China.” He is said to have received payments for the data from August 2024 to December 2024.
Zhao often downloaded the material to a physical hard drive, but some are labelled “top secret” and “secret,” the indictment alleges.
According to the DOJ, Tian, ​​a medical administrator at JBLM since 2021, has allegedly provided Duan with “operational capabilities that include technical manuals and other sensitive information” in return for payments between November 28, 2021 and December 19, 2024. The leaked material was associated with US military weapons systems, such as Bradley and Striker’s US military combat vehicles.
Duan was then paid by an unknown Chinese citizen. It remains unclear whether any of the accused possesses double citizenship with China.
Duane was a regular cavalry scout from November 2013 to May 2017 and did not deploy before leaving service, US Army spokesman Heather J. Hagan told the Daily Callenor News Foundation.
The U.S. Army has fully cooperated with the investigation, but added that it cannot provide details.
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