AP, 8 Feb 10: An elderly Chinese-born engineer convicted of economic espionage for hoarding sensitive documents that included space shuttle details faces sentencing Monday, and prosecutors are seeking a 20-year term. A judge found Dongfan “Greg” Chung, 74, guilty in July of six federal counts of economic espionage and other charges for keeping 300,000 pages of sensitive papers in his home. The documents also included information about the fueling system for a booster rocket.

Despite Chung’s age, prosecutors have requested a 20-year sentence, in part to send a message to other would-be spies. Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Staples noted in sentencing papers that Chung amassed a personal wealth of more than $3 million while betraying his adopted country. “The (People’s Republic of China) is bent on stealing sensitive information from the United States and shows no sign of relenting,” Staples wrote. “Only strong sentences offer any hope of dissuading others from helping the PRC get that technology.” . . .

. . . . The government accused Chung, a stress analyst with high-level clearance, of using his 30-year career at Boeing Co. and Rockwell International to steal the documents. They said investigators found papers stacked throughout Chung’s house that included sensitive information about the booster rocket — documents that employees were ordered to lock away at the end of each day. They said Boeing invested $50 million in the technology over a five-year period. . . .

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The first sentence in this AP story is misleading. It portrays an “elderly” man who was just “hoarding” documents. Chung began spying for China in 1979, when he was 43 years old. He spied for 27 years. In various letters to his handlers in the PRC, Chung referenced engineering manuals he had collected and sent to the PRC, including 24 manuals relating to the B-1 Bomber that Rockwell had prohibited from disclosure outside of the company. In addition to space shuttle documents, his “hoarding” included sensitive information on Delta IV rocket, F-15 fighter, B-52 bomber, CH-46/47 Chinook helicopter and other aerospace and military technologies–all given to the PRC. Chung indicated to his PRC handlers a desire to contribute to the “motherland:”

“I don’t know what I can do for the country. Having been a Chinese compatriot for over thirty years and being proud of the achievements by the people’s efforts for the motherland, I am regretful for not contributing anything…..I would like to make an effort to contribute to the Four Modernizations of China.”–undated (probably 1979) letter from Chung to Professor Chen Lung Ku at Harbin Institute of Technology in the PRC

9 September 1979 letter from Chen Lung Ku: “We are all moved by your patriotism. You have spent so much time to reorganize the notes from several years ago; copying and finding the information that could be needed by us, and you have actively put in your efforts towards the Four Modernizations of the Motherland. Your spirit is an encouragement and driving force to us. We’d like to join our hands together with the overseas compatriots in the endeavor for the construction of our great socialist motherland.”

“It is your honor and China’s fortune that you are able to realize your wish of dedicating yourself to the service of your country.”–May 2, 1987 letter to Chung from Gu Weihao, an official in the Ministry of Aviation and China Aviation Industry Corporation

Chung was NOT just an elderly man who hoarded documents.

♦ CI CENTRE COURSE: 207–An Introduction to the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) Intelligence and Counterintelligence Methodologies