US official indicted for giving secrets to China

The Associated Press ,  Virginia, US   |  Fri, 06/12/2009 7:47 AM  |  World

A Pentagon official initially accused of unknowingly supplying secrets to China had actually been aware for some time that he was dealing with an agent for Beijing, according to a new indictment issued Thursday.

Initial charges last month against James W. Fondren Jr. suggested that he was sucked into a "false flag" operation - that is, he disclosed secrets to an agent he thought worked for Taiwan who was actually working for China.

Thursday's indictment, though, said he had been aware for roughly a decade that the agent had deep ties to the regime in Beijing. At times, Fondren even bypassed his handler and directly gave information to the Chinese government, according to the indictment.

Fondren, 62, who held top secret clearances as deputy director of the Washington liaison office for U.S. Pacific Command, last month became the second Pentagon official charged with giving classified documents to Tai Shen Kuo. Kuo, a New Orleans furniture salesman, pleaded guilty to spying for Beijing and was sentenced last year to nearly 16 years in prison.

The indictment Thursday from a grand jury for U.S. District Court in Alexandria reveals new details about the relationship between Fondren and Kuo.

Specifically, according to the indictment, Fondren wrote an e-mail in 1998 stating that Kuo was using "opinion papers" provided by Fondren to ingratiate himself with the Chinese government. The papers dealt primarily with U.S.-Taiwanese military relations.

In 1999, Kuo and Fondren traveled together to China and met with two government officials there, according to the indictment. Fondren and one of those officials subsequently exchanged e-mails in which Fondren promised to obtain reports on missile defense for the Chinese official.

The indictment states that Fondren and the unidentified Chinese official exchanged more than 40 e-mails between 1999 and 2000.

Between June 1998 and January 2000, Kuo paid nearly $8,000 to Fondren while Fondren operated a consulting service called Strategy Inc. Kuo was Fondren's only client.

After Fondren left the private sector and resumed employment at the Defense Department, he worked through Kuo, and the indictment states that Kuo did indeed try to mislead Fondren into thinking that Kuo was working for Taiwan. Kuo is a Taiwan native and naturalized U.S. citizen.

Fondren's lawyer, Asa Hutchinson, said his client denies the allegations.

"Mr. Fondren intends to vigorously contest the allegations in this indictment and we will particularly contest any allegations that he was an operative for the People's Republic of China or any other foreign government," Hutchinson said in a phone interview.

Taiwanese officials have previously said that the disclosures resulting from Kuo's espionage caused some damage but did not compromise key technology.
   

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