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Space Shuttle Spy Gets 15 Years
goG writes "A Chinese-born engineer was sentenced Monday to more than 15 years in prison for hoarding sensitive information about the US space shuttle with the intent of giving it to China. US District Judge Cormac Carney called Chung's crimes a matter of national security, saying he had committed a breach against the trust Boeing and the country had placed in him. Attorney Greg Staples said, 'The [People's Republic of China] is bent on stealing sensitive information from the United States and shows no sign of relenting. Only strong sentences offer any hope of dissuading others from helping the PRC get that technology.' Staples also 'noted in sentencing papers that Chung amassed a personal wealth of more than $3 million US while betraying his adopted country.'"
Am I the only one who thinks the $3M remark is a red herring?
Treason is treason regardless of how much money you make doing it. He should swing for this, treason still has the death penalty.
In Soviet Russia jokes are formulaic and decidedly non-humorous.
The PRC don't execute all American spies they catch.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hainan_Island_incident
They have executed _Chinese_ spies who spy for other countries.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wo_Weihan
So if you're going to spy on China for the USA make sure you're a US citizen first and probably safer if you weren't born in China.
Absolutely, The Shuttle is junk and obsolete. It should have never been. I think history will show it was just a Reagan bluff, like "Star Wars" to get the Russians to spend tons of money they didn't have on something that would have been, or in the Shuttle's case, of no practical use.
They (the Ruskies) actually fell for it, and build the Buran.
Secret? What could possibly secret on the Space Shuttle? Over reach of laws, yes. Maybe we could classify the plans for the 1954 Kaiser Manhattan and put some Chinese in prison with that.
* Carthago Delenda Est *
IMHO, it's idiocy to assume that one's foes haven't already violated the treaty, and idiocy to not violate it. That's how the game is played, and you play to win if you care about your country.
Well, in fact, if you did actually care about your country, and you don't want it to be nuked, you would find out why your "foes" want to nuke you, and convince to not want to do it, with expensive gifts or the promise of expensive gifts.
In the last century, it's the only thing that has given any results for now.