Sentencing of U.S. Navy Sailor Involved in Sharing Classified Information
A U.S. Navy sailor has been sentenced to 27 months in prison for accepting bribes amounting to nearly $15,000 from a Chinese intelligence officer. This exchange involved providing photos containing unclassified yet sensitive U.S. military data.
Conviction Details
Petty Officer Wenheng “Thomas” Zhao, aged 26, entered a guilty plea last October on charges of conspiracy and receiving a bribe. Despite facing a maximum prison term of 20 years, Zhao was sentenced to 27 months in jail and fined $5,500, as revealed by the U.S. Justice Department.
Zhao, stationed at Naval Base Ventura County in California, confessed to transmitting plans of U.S. military exercises in the Indo-Pacific area, operational directives, and detailed diagrams and blueprints of a radar system situated on a U.S. military base in Okinawa, Japan.
Authorities’ Statements
Larissa Knapp, the Executive Assistant Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Security Branch, expressed disdain for Zhao’s actions, stating, “Zhao chose to betray the oath he took to our country and put others at risk.”
Knapp highlighted the significance of the sentencing, emphasizing China’s intelligence services’ failure to prevent the FBI and allied entities from identifying and prosecuting individuals recruited as spies by China.
Tensions Between Nations
The United States has repeatedly accused China of engaging in extensive espionage activities and cyberattacks. Beijing, however, consistently refutes these allegations, creating a backdrop of escalating tensions between the two countries on matters of national security and international espionage.
