Pentagon Analyst, Boeing Engineer In Hot Water For Spying For China

February 12, 2008 9:18 a.m. EST

Washington, DC (AHN) - Two separate cases of espionage were filed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation against a Pentagon analyst and an ex Boeing engineer for spying for China. Gregg Bergersen of Alexandra, Virginia was arrested for selling classified military information to Tai Kuo, a Taiwanese who was naturalized. Tai sent the data to the Chinese government.

The court had evidence Bergersen gave Tai a diskette containing documents and asked the Chinese, a salesman, to maintain silence over their transaction. The Pentagon weapons systems policy analyst got poker chips, plane tickets and money for the information he gave away.

There is a third suspect in the Bergersen case, Yu Xin Kang, a female employee of Tai who served as go-between her employer and a Chinese official.

Another Chinese, Dongfan Greg Chung was indicted Monday for providing China defense and commercial classified information for almost three decades on various systems including the U.S. space program and Air Force cargo aircraft. Dongfan, former engineer and contractor for Boeing, spied for Beijing out of loyalty to his country of origin.

Commenting on the two cases, which were not related, Kenneth Wainstein, Assistant Attorney General, said, "Foreign spying remains a serious threat in the post-Cold War world." Wainstein added buying military and commercial trade secrets is still the method used by foreign governments to gain access to confidential information.

Bergersen was arrested at his house on Monday. A conspiracy to delivery national defense information to a person not authorized to receive the data was filed against the Pentagon analyst. If found guilty, he faces a maximum term of 10 years. Bergersen's wife, Ofelia, an officer in the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service, maintained her husband was innocent.

Tai and Yu were slapped with a conspiracy to deliver national defense information to a foreign government charges. The punishment for such a crime is life imprisonment. U.S. Magistrate Judge Louis Moore Jr. postponed Yu's hearing because she did not understood the charges and had broken down emotionally.