Space Shuttle Secrets Stolen For China

Ponca City, We Love You writes "The Department of Justice has announced the indictment of former Boeing engineer Dongfan Chung on charges of economic espionage in the theft of company trade secrets relating to the Space Shuttle, the C-17 military transport aircraft, and the Delta IV rocket. Chung is a native of China and a naturalized US citizen. According to the indictment, Chinese aviation industry representatives began sending Chung 'tasking' letters as early as 1979. Over the years, the letters directed Chung to collect specific technological information, including data related to the Space Shuttle and various military and civilian aircraft. Chung allegedly responded in one letter indicating a desire to contribute to the 'motherland,' the DOJ said. It was not immediately clear how much, if any, damage the alleged espionage did to US national security but DOJ officials said the cases reflect the determination of the Chinese government to penetrate US intelligence and obtain vital national defense secrets. 'Today's prosecution demonstrates that foreign spying remains a serious threat in the post-Cold War world,' said Kenneth L. Wainstein, Assistant Attorney General for National Security"

Comments

Re:too much

[FleaPlus]

> too much privatization, and not enough oversight

Are you suggesting that the U.S. should produce all of its rockets in-house? That hasn't been the case since, like, the 1950s.

Also, what do you think should have been done differently? He apparently had "Secret" level security clearance, which according to Wikipedia involves the following:

A Secret clearance, also known as Ordinary Secret, requires a few months to a year to fully investigate depending on the individual's activities. Some instances where individuals would take longer than normal to be investigated are many past residences, having residences in foreign countries, or have relatives outside the United States. Bankruptcy and unpaid bills as well as criminal charges will more than likely disqualify an applicant for approval. Poor financial history is the number one cause of rejection, and foreign activities and criminal record are also common causes for disqualification. A Secret clearance requires a National Agency Check, A Local Agency Check, Credit investigation and must be reinvestigated every 10 years.

Because it makes for a good headline?

[golodh]

Honestly, industrial espionage in the US has been proven to be committed by: France (NATO ally), Israel (special ally) , Russia (ex-enemy), China (competitor).

Nothing new there. Besides, I'd be amazed if e.g. India, Pakistan, Brazil, South Korea, Japan, South Africa, and Iran weren't also active (or trying to be active) in this field.

Why then do we hear often about Chinese espionage? Is it just that Chinese espionage makes good headlines?

Well ... perhaps it has something to do with the fact that there are so many (very good) ethnically Chinese engineers and scientists in the US, in all walks of life. Due to do Americans not being interested in an arduous career in Engineering or the Sciences when they can instead aim at Management, Legal services, or brokerage I'm told. Well, admittedly the Chinese government is quite organised about industrial espionage, and it's easier to get a rapport with an ethnic countryman than with some foreigner.

So ... if we assume a fixed promillage of the population open to espionage proposals, we must expect Chinese to be over-represented. Besides which ... it's not as if the US doesn't commit industrial espionage of itself (primarily in the EU; see e.g. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2000/mar/31/ianblack).

Lets just save our righteous indignation for a more worthy cause and simply shore up security on projects and firms that are attractive targets, shall we?

Top Secret != Polygraph Interview

[sciop101]

Top Secret Clearance does not require a polygraph (lie detector) interview. Security Accesses within Top Secret (Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI)) may require a polygraph interview. I knew a man whose job qualificaton required he and his wife both get polygraphed.

Security Clearance investigations are expensive. Polygraph test add to the expense.

Re:duh!

[anagama]

No need to swipe anything -- China just buys up companies. For example, GM owas producing neodymium magnets which are used in everything from "Smart Bombs" to hard drives. In 1995, it sold the business to Sextant Group (Chinese) although a promise was extracted from the feds (because this was tech important to defense) to leave production here in America. Bush said naught when Sextant packed off everything to China: http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/685/
Excerpt:

U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Indiana) appealed to the Bush administration last fall to use powers under the 1988 Exon-Florio Amendment to the defense bill to block the transfer of the Valparaiso plant on national security grounds because the operation supplied 80 percent of magnets needed for smart bombs. The plant's move to China was denounced in lengthy magazine exposés from both the right (Insight) and left (Counterpunch). But the Bush administration did nothing.