WASHINGTON
(AP) — A Defense Department analyst and a former engineer for Boeing Co. were
charged Monday in separate spy cases for allegedly selling military secrets to
the Chinese government, the Justice Department said.
Additionally,
two Chinese immigrants accused of working with the defense analyst were
arrested after an FBI raid Monday morning on a New Orleans home where one of
them lived.
The two
cases — based in Alexandria, Va., and Los Angeles — have no connection, and
investigators said it was merely a coincidence that charges would be brought
against both on the same day.
The cases
show "that foreign spying remains a serious threat in the post-Cold War
world," Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Wainstein said in a prepared
statement.
The Justice
Department was to discuss the charges at an afternoon news conference in Washington.
Prosecutors
said defense analyst Gregg W. Bergersen, 51, of Alexandria, Va., sold
classified defense information to a New Orleans businessman for an undisclosed
amount of money. In return, the businessman, identified as Tai Kuo, 58, a
naturalized U.S. citizen, forwarded the information to the Chinese government.
Much of the
data concerned U.S. military sales to Taiwan, prosecutors said. A third alleged
conspirator in the case, Chinese national Yu Xin Kang, 33, served as the
go-between for Kuo and the People's Republic of China, according to
prosecutors.
Kuo and
Bergersen, a weapons systems policy analyst at the Defense Security Cooperation
Agency in Arlington, Va., were set to appear in federal court in Alexandria on Monday. Kang was to appear in New Orleans.
In Los Angeles, meanwhile, former Boeing engineer Dongfan "Greg" Chung, 72, was
arrested on charges of working as an unregistered agent for the Chinese
government who stole trade secrets from the defense contractor. The stolen data
largely focused on aerospace programs, including the Space Shuttle, prosecutors
said.
Chung, a
naturalized U.S. citizen, was indicted last week on espionage, conspiracy and
obstructing justices charges that were unsealed Monday. He has been the subject
of an FBI investigation for nearly a year as part of an inquiry into another
Chinese-born engineer who was convicted in 2007 of stealing military data for
the Chinese government.
As early as
1979, prosecutors said, Chinese officials were tasking Chung to collect data on
U.S. aviation, including the Space Shuttle and various military and civilian
aircraft. At one point, Chung responded in a letter that he wanted to "contribute
to the motherland," according to the Justice Department.
Over an 18
year span, Chung traveled to China many times to deliver lectures on the Space
Shuttle and other programs, and he allegedly met with Chinese government
officials there to discuss how to transfer U.S. data.
Chung, who
has a security clearance, worked for contractor Rockwell International from
1973 until 1996, when the company's defense and space firm was acquired by
Boeing. He retired from Boeing in 2002 but returned the next year as a
contractor. He ultimately left Boeing in 2006.
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