2 US Navy Personnel Charged With Sending Military Information to Chinese Intelligence

Two U.S. Navy servicemembers, Jinchao Wei and Wenheng Zhao, were arrested in California as part of two separate cases for "transmitting sensitive military information" to China, DOJ announced Aug. 3.

Wei, arrested Aug. 2, was charged with conspiracy to ship national defense information, including technical manuals subject to export controls, to a Chinese intelligence officer. The indictment, unsealed Aug. 3 in the Southern District of California, said Wei, in his role as a "machinist's mate," held a U.S. security clearance granting him access to key information on the USS Essex assault ship's "weapons, propulsion and desalination systems."

In February 2022, Wei allegedly began communicating with the Chinese intelligence officer, who requested that he provide information on the ship and other Navy vessels in exchange for thousands of dollars, DOJ said. From March 2022 to the present, Wei sent the intelligence officer pictures and videos of the ship along with technical and mechanical manuals that "contained export control warnings," DOJ said. Some of the manuals included warnings that "this was technical data subject to export controls and that it was deemed 'critical technology' by the U.S. Navy," the agency said.

In one instance in October 2022, DOJ said Wei sent the Chinese intelligence officer a weapons control systems manual for the Essex and other ships, and the manual "contained export-controlled data that could not be exported without a license from the U.S. government." The agency said Wei knowingly violated the International Traffic in Arms Regulations by sending the manual to the Chinese officer.

In the Central District of California, Zhao was arrested on changes of receiving bribes in exchange for military information provided to an individual purporting to be a "maritime economic researcher" but who was actually a Chinese intelligence officer. Zhao allegedly photographed "electrical diagrams and blueprints for a radar system" set in a military base in Okinawa, Japan. He was allegedly paid around $14,866.