A former Boeing engineer was arrested yesterday over allegations he passed secret information on the space shuttle and other projects to the Chinese government.

Dongfan ‘Greg’ Chung, 72 was indicted last week on charges of economic espionage and “acting as an unregistered foreign agent” (that’s a spy in layman’s terms). According to the Department of Justice (DOJ) indictment Chung passed trade secrets relating not just to the shuttle but also to the C-17 military transport plane and the Delta IV rocket.

“Mr Chung is accused of stealing restricted technology that had been developed over many years by engineers who were sworn to protect their work product because it represented trade secrets,” says US Attorney Thomas O’Brien (press release). “Disclosure of this information to outside entities like the PRC [People’s Republic of China] would compromise our national security.”

The DOJ says the Chung case is linked to another investigation which last year saw Chi Mak and members of his family convicted of “providing defence articles to the PRC” (more details). A love of ‘the motherland’ rather than money is the suspected motivation in the Chung case.

“We have had so many Chinese space and military technology cases, it’s crazy. Space is part of China’s military modernization plans, so we have had collection efforts targeted at space, aerospace and military technology,” says Dean Boyd, spokesman for the Justice Department’s National Security Division, in the Orlando Sentinel.

More news coverage

U.S. announces spy charges – Reuters

Ex-Boeing Worker, U.S. Employee Charged in Spy Cases – Bloomberg

Orange County man is accused of being a spy – LA Times

Image: NASA