Three US soldiers (all of Chinese descent) from Pacific NW accused of sharing classified military information with China
Three U.S. Army soldiers are accused of sharing top secret national defense material and other sensitive military information with a Chinese national and other unidentified buyers in China, according to unsealed court records.
Jian Zhao and Li Tian, both active-duty soldiers stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington, and Ruoyu Duan, a former soldier from the base who lives in Hillsboro, were arrested Thursday on indictments out of Oregon and Washington.
Zhao, a sergeant, is charged in federal court in Tacoma with conspiracy to obtain and transmit national defense information, bribery of a public official and theft of government property.
Tian and Duan are charged in federal court in Portland with conspiring to commit bribery and theft of government property.
Zhao received payments totaling $15,000 in exchange for gathering electronic media, documents and other military information and sharing it with an unidentified conspirator, according to court documents.
Zhao used internet-based encryption to communicate with his contact in China, offer prices for the classified material and ask his contact to find other buyers, a federal affidavit alleges.
Among the information Zhao shared concerned the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, known as HIMARS and used on the battlefield in Ukraine, and documents related to U.S. military readiness in the event of a conflict with China, according to court papers.
Zhao sold an encrypted military hard drive and 20 classified hard drives to co-conspirators operating on behalf of China, according to Oregon Assistant U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Barrow. He also is accused of selling an encrypted military computer, Barrow wrote in a detention memo.
“Hard to find. If you can guarantee both of our safety while making some money for both of us, sell it,” Zhao wrote to his accomplice, according to Barrow.
According to the indictment unsealed in Oregon, Tian secretly gathered information related to Army operations, including technical manuals and other sensitive material about the missions and capabilities of the Bradley and Stryker Army fighting vehicles, and then shared them with Duan in exchange for money.
The alleged conspiracy between Tian and Duan occurred from Nov. 28, 2021, through Dec. 19, 2024, investigators said.
Tian was an active-duty first lieutenant stationed at the Washington base as a health services administrator, according to his indictment.
Duan was an active soldier from 2013 to 2017.
Tian is accused of entering restricted military installations and removing non-public, sensitive Army photos and documents, his indictment says.
Duan received money from financial accounts based in China and then paid Tian for the material, the FBI alleges. Tian accepted payments from Duan totaling at least $500 on March 29, 2023, their indictment says.
Duan paid another unidentified accomplice about $3,200 for military information from June 7, 2023, to Nov. 24, 2023, according to the court documents.
Tian sent Duan classified military information via his personal and Army emails, using links to Google drives, according to their indictment.
The two also communicated via Facebook Messenger, sometimes using code language to make it appear that they were talking about tuition and class materials, according to the indictment.
In a Feb. 24, 2023, exchange, Duan wrote on the social messaging platform, “I see that nothing happened after you said you’d ask the chief. Don’t worry if it can’t be done. I can find materials on wiki or reddit. … The main thing is not to get in trouble. It is not easy to get to this point in the army.”
Tian responded, “Downloaded. Don’t be anxious. I’m out and will send it to you when I get back,” according to the indictment.
A short time later, Tian added, “I’ve obtained the system permissions and can now download the pdf,” the indictment said.
By mid-October 2023, another unidentified conspirator introduced himself to Tian as a friend of Duan’s via WeChat and wrote, “Boss Duan says you have things to sell. Mind telling what you have,” according to the indictment.
Video surveillance cameras at the Army base in Washington also caught Tian taking photos of documents on his computer screen in his office on several days in May 2024 and taking and walking away with documents marked “SECRET,” the indictment alleges.
Other conspirators who aren’t named in the court documents sent packages of military information on classified hard drives to suspected buyers in China in exchange for thousands of dollars in payment, investigators allege.
Much of the communications to arrange the deliveries were done via WeChat, with one person informing another that he had “good stuff” and to “spread the news … It’s Brigade Level,” according to court documents. “Very sensitive document. Super difficult to get.”
“This needs some time. This is way top (we) must be very careful,” another responded on the chat.
In another chat in October 2024, one person offered a copy of an unidentified 42-page document for “2.5K,” according to an indictment.
On the WeChat communications obtained by investigators, one person urged others to download the Signal messaging device, saying that was the “safest … this feels very risky.”
FBI agents from the Portland office and Washington state were involved in the investigation.
The three men were arrested Thursday and search warrants were executed at their homes, according to prosecutors.
Zhao and Tian made their initial appearances in federal court in Tacoma, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Duan, 39, was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center at 3:11 p.m. on a federal marshal’s hold.
Investigators said they suspect Zhao has access to a warehouse but haven’t been able to find it.
“It is unconscionable that a person who wears the uniform of a U.S. Army soldier would betray our country and the trust of his fellow soldiers,” W. Mike Herrington, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Seattle office, said in a statement.
“These arrests should send a message to would-be spies that we and our partners have the will and the ability to find you, track you down, and hold you to account,” Herrington said. “Protecting the nation’s secrets, especially those necessary to preserve our military advantage and protect our troops, is one of the FBI’s top priorities.”
U.S. Attorney General Pamela J. Bondi promised “swift, severe and comprehensive justice.”
“The defendants arrested today are accused of betraying our country, actively working to weaken America’s defense capabilities and empowering our adversaries in China,” Bondi said in a statement.
Douglas A. Olson, the special agent in charge of the FBI Portland office, said, “As a former member of the U.S. Army, Ruoyu Duan betrayed the oath of military service he had once taken.”
“The actions by this former soldier and his co-conspirators caused significant risk and damage to U.S. National Security and violated the oath they took as military members to protect the American people,” Olson said.
https://archive.is/0OulJ#selection-769.0-1081.217