US Navy Spy caught

[Scoobie Newbie]

http://controversialtimes.com/news/this-navy-lt-cmdr-was-just-charged-with-espionage-caught-spying-for-china/?utm_source=LRD

 

[tomahawk6]

Held for 8 months and then the arrest was made public,interesting.I would hope they caught his handler and Taiwanese security probably has taken a close look at his family.

 

[Retired AF Guy]

http://controversialtimes.com/news/this-navy-lt-cmdr-was-just-charged-with-espionage-caught-spying-for-china/?utm_source=LRD

The actual charge sheet (heavily redacted) can be found here.

 

[The Bread Guy]

A bit more from MSM here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/04/10/navy-officer-faces-charges-of-espionage-and-prostitution-in-highly-secretive-case/
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/navy-officer-charged-espionage-sharing-secret-info-article-1.2595782
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-navy-officer-charged-with-spying/
http://abcnews.go.com/US/taiwan-born-naval-officer-charged-espionage/story?id=38295377

 

[MarkOttawa]

US Naval Institute News story:

U.S. Naval Flight Officer Lt. Cmdr. Edward Lin Accused of Giving U.S. Secrets to China

A U.S. naval flight officer with an extensive signals intelligence background was accused by the service of passing secrets to China, USNI News has learned.

Lt. Cmdr. Edward C. Lin, who served on some of the Navy’s most sensitive intelligence gathering aircraft, faces several counts of espionage and other charges outlined during a Friday Article 32 hearing in Norfolk, Va.

Lin, originally a Taiwanese national before his family moved to the U.S., had a career as a signals intelligence specialist on the Navy’s Lockheed Martin EP-3E Aries II reconnaissance aircraft [emphasis added], several sources confirmed to USNI News.

Several sources familiar with the case told USNI News the country to which Lin passed secrets was China, however, few other details are known about the case given much of the evidence is classified...
https://news.usni.org/2016/04/10/u-s-naval-flight-officer-lt-cmdr-edward-lin-accused-of-giving-u-s-secrets-to-china

USN PR from 2008:

Hawaii Sailor 'Dogged' to Become U.S. Citizen

HONOLULU (NNS) -- A Navy officer and Taiwan native assigned to the Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet staff described his journey to American citizenship Dec. 3, when he spoke at a naturalization ceremony at the U.S. District Court in Honolulu.

Lt. Edward Lin shared his feelings about America before becoming a naturalized citizen and spoke about his life since that day nine years ago.

"I always dreamt about coming to America, the 'promised land,'" he said. "I grew up believing that all the roads in America lead to Disneyland."

Upon arriving, he quickly found out that it was not about where the roads lead, but where his future in America would take him.

The motivation for someone to go through the naturalization process is unique for everyone.

"Whether it is economical, political, social or religious reasons," Lin said. "I do know that by becoming a citizen of the United States of America, you did it to better your life and the life of your family."

Lin was 14 years old when he and his family left Taiwan. They had to travel halfway around the world, stopping in different countries along the way where they had to quickly adapt to new cultures and to find inventive ways to communicate while learning new languages...
http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=41257

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

More from USNI News:

Accused Spy Lt. Cmdr. Edward Lin Was a Trained Nuclear Specialist, Navy Congressional Liaison

The naval flight officer accused by the Navy of giving secrets to China was a trained enlisted nuclear specialist prior to his time as a surveillance expert, USNI News has learned.

Before Lt. Cmdr. Edward Chieh-Liang Lin joined the small community flying the service’s most secretive aircraft, he was a sailor who enlisted in 1999. Following basic training, Lin attended the Navy’s nuclear training schools in Charleston, S.C. from March of 2000 to February of 2002.

Later that month, Lin was enrolled as a student in the Navy’s Officer Candidate School and commissioned on May 10, 2002, according to Lin’s official Navy biography obtained by USNI News on Monday.

There’s no evidence that Lin, originally from Taiwan, served as an enlisted nuclear specialist on a ship or a submarine before he attended OCS.

Following OCS, Lin spent two years moving through the Navy’s signals intelligence and aviation pipeline to reporting to his first operational deployment Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron ‘World Watchers’ (VQ-1) at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Wash. in June 30, 2004.

The World Watchers fly Lockheed Martin EP-3E Aries II signals intelligence aircraft that gather information on the capabilities of potential adversaries, Bryan Clark, naval analyst Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) and former special assistant to past Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert, told USNI News on Monday [April 11].

Sources told USNI News that Lin spoke fluent Mandarin and was one of the onboard analysts that would be able to provide commanders real time assessments of what the team onboard the Aries II learned from their monitoring.

An EP-3E Aries II signals intelligence aircraft in 2006. Lin’s job int he Navy was to coordinate the information gathered by the crew. US Navy Photo
...
While Lin had basic knowledge of the Navy’s nuclear power systems from his enlisted service, as well as the Navy’s budget practices, it was his time with the Aries II that would have been of the most interest to the Chinese, Clark said.

“The stuff he new as a nuclear power guy are engineering details that China could have obtained by other means,” Clark said.

“They would like to know the types of stuff a VPU guy would know.”

Damaging information to the U.S. would include, “What kind of Chinese systems they were looking for and listening to. Which ones were easier to detect and harder to detect what information did they gather and what did they assess from that information and what was the assessment.”

Lin position on the EP-3Es was that of a sensor coordinator – a supervisor that directed what the team on the aircraft were looking for, how to interpret the data and how help guide military leaders on how to use the information past collection, USNI News understands.

Knowledge of EP-3E operations and sensors — especially the specialized aircraft the Wizards flew – would be critical to China to develop sensors that were harder for the U.S. to detect and could give the Chinese People’s Liberation Army an advantage in an all-out conflict.

“It’s mostly radars that they would be looking for,” Clark said...
https://news.usni.org/2016/04/11/accused-spy-lt-cmdr-edward-lin-was-a-trained-nuclear-specialist-navy-congressional-liaison

Mark
Ottawa

 

[tomahawk6]

I am interested in whether Lin approached the PRC or they used a honey pot.One of the charges was soliciting prostitutes.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

He might also have family in Mainland China that could be used against him.

 

[Old Sweat]

He might also have family in Mainland China that could be used against him.

If he had any, I suspect he would not have been able to get a security clearance that allowed him access to means and methods.

 

[MarkOttawa]

Meanwhile what sure looks like influence ops:

Australian-Chinese leaders urge support for 'motherland' in South China Sea dispute

Leading figures in Australia's Chinese population have called on fellow community members to come together to help "safeguard the sovereign rights of China" over growing military tensions in the South China Sea.

Days before Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull makes his first official visit to Beijing, the ABC has learned key figures from Australia's Chinese community has recently held crisis talks to discuss its concerns...
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-11/support-urged-for-'motherland'-in-south-china-sea-dispute/7318172

Dick Fadden anyone?
https://cgai3ds.wordpress.com/?s=fadden

Mark
Ottawa

 

[The Bread Guy]

Meanwhile what sure looks like influence ops:

Australian-Chinese leaders urge support for 'motherland' in South China Sea dispute

    Leading figures in Australia's Chinese population have called on fellow community members to come together to help "safeguard the sovereign rights of China" over growing military tensions in the South China Sea.

    Days before Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull makes his first official visit to Beijing, the ABC has learned key figures from Australia's Chinese community has recently held crisis talks to discuss its concerns...
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-11/support-urged-for-'motherland'-in-south-china-sea-dispute/7318172

...

Like Pete Seeger used to sing ...

 

[MarkOttawa]

Good grief--deux azimuts?

U.S. Official: Lt. Cmdr. Edward Lin Accused of Passing Secrets to Taiwan in Addition to China
https://news.usni.org/2016/04/11/u-s-official-lt-cmdr-edward-lin-accused-of-passing-secrets-to-taiwan-in-addition-to-china

Mark
Ottawa

 

[tomahawk6]

I would think that it would have been smart to leave Lin in place undetected,to allow him to progress in his career until he was well placed.Anyway for Lin's family they will bear the shame along with him.

 

[CBH99]

T6, don't be surprised if they did just that.

Obviously for them to bring a number of charges against him, they had to be keeping their eyes on him for a while.  Don't be surprised if they let him ride out his career, or even helped get him promoted, just so the counter-intel guys could see for themselves what it was he was after.

The game of cat & mouse always works both ways.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Latest on Lin:

The Navy has recommended that espionage charges against Lt. Cmdr. Edward Lin proceed to a general court-martial, though it has dropped prostitution and adultery charges that the once-fast rising officer faced, a service spokesman said Friday.

After considering evidence presented at an Article 32 hearing last month, U.S. Fleet Forces Adm. Philip S. Davidson made the recommendation that the case should proceed to general court-martial on May 10, said Lt. Cmdr. Timothy Hawkins, a Navy spokesman. Lin will be arraigned at Naval Station Norfolk on May 17.

Lin, 39, faces espionage charges stemming from his Sept. 11, 2015 arrest by Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents and his subsequent two-day interrogation at a Honolulu airport. He had been subject to a two-month investigation prior to his arrest. According to the charges, Lin is accused of meeting five times with an undercover Mandarin-speaking FBI informant and providing what federal prosecutors allege was classified information intended to aid a foreign government.

The Article 32 hearing also included charges of prostitution and adultery, but the Navy has decided to dismiss the charges without prejudice, meaning they will not be part of the general court-martial but Lin still could face other administrative punishment for them.

Defense attorneys for Lin, who is accused of spying for China and Taiwan, have challenged the case against him, saying the classified information in question is available on the Internet and the interrogation that led to most of the charges was unlawfully conducted.

An 80-minute audio recording of the unclassified portions of Lin’s Article 32 hearing, which took place April 8, was shared last week with reporters. The hearing was convened to determine whether the Navy would recommend some or all of the charges against Lin be referred to a full court-martial, a lesser administrative punishment or possibly dismissed.

Recommendations from the hearing were provided to Davidson on April 26, Hawkins said ...