Shannon VavraAug 3, 2023
Two US Navy sailors were arrested yesterday for allegedly giving sensitive US military info to China—including opsec info on a naval base, info on an exercise in the Indo-Pacific region (including location and timing of force movements), blueprints for a radar system in Okinawa, dozens of technical manuals, locations of Navy ships, details about systems aboard like power & steering, a weapons control systems manual...
Show threadShannon VavraAug 3, 2023

A few notes... Wenheng Zhao seemed curious about motivations from the Chinese intelligence officer's side, according to the indictment: He asked why the officer wanted the info on a large scale US military exercise.

The officer claimed it was to help make investment decisions:

Show threadShannon VavraAug 3, 2023
Jinchao Wei, on the other hand, seemed well aware about his intelligence work for Beijing: According to his indictment, he couldn't help but blab. “Jinchao Wei told another U.S. Navy sailor that he had been asked to spy for the PRC”
Show threadShannon Vavra
Both Jinchao Wei and Wenheng Zhao appear to have knowingly used encrypted chats to work with their Chinese intelligence officers, according to the indictments. Both were also instructed to destroy evidence about their relationship.
Aug 3, 2023 at 9:49pmWeb
Show threadJason ONAug 4, 2023

@shanvav

With all the Donald Trump news coverage I missed this. As a veteran with a clearance this bothers me to my core.