Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) -- A former Rockwell International and Boeing Co. aerospace engineer who worked on the Space Shuttle program was sentenced to more than 15 years in prison for economic espionage and acting as an agent for China.
Dongfan "Greg" Chung, employed by Rockwell and then Boeing from 1973 until 2006, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney in Los Angeles, the Justice Department said in a statement.
Chung, 73, was found guilty of conspiracy, six counts of economic espionage, one count of acting as a Chinese agent and one count of making false statements after a three-week bench trial last year. Chung, a naturalized U.S. citizen and a native of China, held a "secret" security clearance when he worked at Rockwell and Boeing on the Space Shuttle program.
At the sentencing hearing, Carney said that he could not "put a price tag" on national security, and that the long sentence for Chung was intended to send a signal to China to "stop sending your spies here."
During the trial, the government showed that Chung stole Boeing trade secrets related to the Space Shuttle and the Delta IV rocket, materials he acquired for the benefit of the People's Republic of China, according to court documents.
The case against Chung resulted from an investigation into Chi Mak, another engineer who worked in the U.S. and obtained sensitive military information for China. Carney sentenced Mak to more than 24 years in prison in 2008.
'Tasking' Letter
Chinese aviation industry representatives began sending Chung "tasking" letters as early as 1979, court records show. Over the years, Chung was directed to collect information including data on the Space Shuttle and military aircraft.
Chung responded in one undated letter that "I would like to make an effort to contribute to the Four Modernizations of China," court records show. He provided his Chinese handlers with referenced engineering manuals he had collected, including 24 related to the B-1 Bomber, according to prosecutors.
From 1985 and 2003, Chung made multiple trips to China to deliver lectures on the Space Shuttle and other technology programs. While there, he met with Chinese government officials, including agents affiliated with the People's Liberation Army, court records show. Chung and the officials exchanged letters that recommended methods for passing information, including suggestions that Chung use Mak and his wife Rebecca.
Crawl Space
On Sept. 11, 2006, FBI and NASA agents searched Chung's residence in Orange, California, and found more than 250,000 pages of documents from Boeing, Rockwell and other defense contractors inside the house and in a crawl space underneath it. Among the documents were scores of binders containing decades' worth of stress analysis reports, test results and design information for the Space Shuttle.
"The FBI and our partners in the intelligence community are committed to stopping those intent on stealing American technology, whether they are motivated by money or allegiance to their native country," said Steven M. Martinez, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI in Los Angeles, in a statement.
The case is U.S. v. Chung, 08-cr-00024, U.S. District Court, Central District of California (Los Angeles).
To contact the reporter on this story: Cary O'Reilly in Washington at caryoreilly@bloomberg.net .
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