Spy gave shuttle secrets to China

[Num7]

Spy gave shuttle secrets to China

Right now, China is racing against US to get in space, back to the Moon, and to Mars before they do. I wonder if they'll succeed, but it seems they are doing everything they can, even spy the US. BTW, China and Russia are some of the countries who are spying others the most, aren't they ?

Spy gave shuttle secrets to China
16 July 2009

A Chinese-born engineer in the United States has been found guilty of passing space shuttle technology secrets to China, for more than 30 years.

Dongfan "Greg" Chung, 73, is the first person to be found guilty under a federal law, introduced in 1996, to counter economic espionage.

Mr Chung worked for Rockwell International, and then Boeing, until the FBI investigation began in 2006.

He will be sentenced in November, and could spend decades in prison.

A court statement said the judge in California had found Chung guilty of economic espionage, acting as a foreign agent and making false statements to the FBI.

The trial began on 2 June.

Public domain

Chung, a naturalised American citizen, worked at Rockwell International from 1973. Rockwell's defence and space unit was taken over by Boeing in 1996.

Chung's defence team admitted that he took Boeing papers home, but said he had wanted the information so he could write a book.

All the information he had given to China, they said, was already in the public domain.

His lawyer Thomas H Bienert told the court: "Mr Chung walked an interesting line, and a risky line, but not a line that was criminal."

The defence team says it will appeal against the verdict.

Chung is to remain in custody until his sentencing on 9 November. He could face up to 90 years in jail.

BBC NEWS | Americas | Spy gave shuttle secrets to China