Fergie's Tech Blog

DoD Official Indicted for Giving Secrets to China

An AP newswire article by Matthew Barakat, via The Boston Globe, reports that:

A Pentagon official initially accused of unknowingly supplying secrets to China had actually been aware for some time that he was dealing with an agent for Beijing, according to a new indictment issued Thursday.

Initial charges last month against James W. Fondren Jr. suggested that he was sucked into a "false flag" operation -- that is, he disclosed secrets to an agent he thought worked for Taiwan who was actually working for China.

Thursday's indictment, though, said he had been aware for roughly a decade that the agent had deep ties to the regime in Beijing. At times, Fondren even bypassed his handler and directly gave information to the Chinese government, according to the indictment.

Fondren, 62, who held top secret clearances as deputy director of the Washington liaison office for U.S. Pacific Command, last month became the second Pentagon official charged with giving classified documents to Tai Shen Kuo. Kuo, a New Orleans furniture salesman, pleaded guilty to spying for Beijing and was sentenced last year to nearly 16 years in prison.

posted by Fergie @ 6/11/2009 08:49:00 PM