Latest news with #nationalSecurity
Fox News
22-07-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Chinese citizen admits stealing US trade secrets for next-generation national security tech
A dual U.S.-Chinese citizen formerly employed as an engineer at a Southern California company has admitted to stealing U.S. trade secrets for next-generation national security technology. Though Chenguang Gong, 59, of San Jose, pleaded guilty to one count of theft of trade secrets, he remains free on a $1.75 million bond, according to the Justice Department. U.S. District Judge John F. Walter scheduled sentencing for Sept. 29. Prosecutors said Gong faces a statutory maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. According to his plea agreement, Gong transferred more than 3,600 files from a Los Angeles-area research and development company where he worked, to personal storage devices during his brief tenure with the company last year. Federal prosecutors said the files Gong transferred include blueprints for sophisticated infrared sensors designed for use in space-based systems to detect nuclear missile launches and track ballistic and hypersonic missiles. Other files were said to have included blueprints for sensors designed to enable U.S. military aircraft to detect incoming, heat-seeking missiles and take countermeasures, including by jamming the missiles' infrared tracking ability. "These files describe the methods, designs, techniques, processes, specifications, testing, and manufacture of these technologies and would be extremely damaging economically if obtained by the Victim Company's competitors, and would be dangerous to U.S. national security if obtained by international actors," the complaint says. The "intended economic loss" from Gong's criminal conduct exceeds $3.5 million, according to the plea agreement. Court documents note that much of the Malibu-based company's work is funded through contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense and other U.S. government contractors. Gong was hired by the company in January 2023 as an application-specific integrated circuit design manager responsible for the design, development and verification of its infrared sensors. From approximately March 30 that year until his termination on April 26, 2023, Gong allegedly transferred thousands of files from his work laptop to three personal storage devices. That included more than 1,800 files after he had accepted a job at one of the company's main competitors, prosecutors said. Prosecutors said many of the files Gong transferred contained proprietary and trade-secret information related to the development and design of a readout integrated circuit that allows space-based systems to detect missile launches and track ballistic and hypersonic missiles and a readout integrated circuit that allows aircraft to track incoming threats in low-visibility environments. Gong also allegedly transferred files containing trade secrets relating to the development of "next generation" sensors capable of detecting low-observable targets while demonstrating increased survivability in space, as well as the blueprints for the mechanical assemblies used to house and cryogenically cool the company's sensors. That information was among the company's most important trade secrets and is worth hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the DOJ. Many of the files had warnings in bold letters that the information was proprietary, export-controlled and for "official use only." The FBI executed a search warrant on May 8, 2023 at Gong's temporary residence in Thousand Oaks, California, and also searched his vehicle and his person. Law enforcement recovered multiple digital devices belonging to Gong, some of which contained the company's propriety files. The complaint says the FBI, however, did not locate two hard drives Gong used to exfiltrate the company's trade secret and proprietary information, "and the whereabouts of those drives to date remains unknown." Prosecutors said Gong repeatedly denied processing those hard drives or knowing where they were located in May 2023 interviews with the FBI. Gong was arrested on federal charges on Feb. 7, 2024, but was later released on bond. Court documents say Gong first entered the United States in or around 1993 and became a U.S. citizen in 2011. His resume states that he earned a Master of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from Clemson University and completed some PhD work at Stanford University, according to the complaint. Law enforcement also said Gong applied to "Talent Programs" administered by the People's Republic of China while he was employed at several major technology companies in the U.S. between approximately 2014 and 2022. While employed at a U.S. information technology company headquartered in Dallas, Gong in 2014 sent a business proposal to a contact at a high-tech research institute in China focused on both military and civilian products, prosecutors said. In the proposal, Gong described a plan to produce high-performance analog-to-digital converters like those produced by his employer. In another "Talent Program" application from September 2020, prosecutors said, Gong proposed to develop "low light/night vision" image sensors for use in military night vision goggles and civilian applications. Gong's proposal included a video presentation that contained the model number of a sensor developed by an international defense, aerospace, and security company where Gong worked from 2015 to 2019, according to the DOJ. Authorities said Gong traveled to China several times to seek "Talent Program" funding in order to develop sophisticated analog-to-digital converters. The Justice Department cited a 2019 email translated from Chinese in which Gong remarked that he "took a risk" by traveling to China to participate in the Talent Programs because he worked for "an American military industry company" and thought he could "do something" to contribute to China's "high-end military integrated circuits."
CNA
21-07-2025
- Business
- CNA
US Treasury chief says China talks could cover Iran, Russia oil buys
WASHINGTON: The next round of US-China talks could include Chinese purchases of Russian and Iranian oil, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday (Jul 21), a move that would shift the focus of trade negotiations into national security issues. US President Donald Trump has imposed fresh tariffs on allies and competitors alike this year, and Washington and Beijing in April rapidly hiked duties on each other's goods in a tit-for-tat escalation. But after high-level talks in Geneva and London, the world's two biggest economies temporarily lowered tariff levels until mid-August while discussions continued. "I think trade is in a good place," Bessent told CNBC in an interview. "And I think now we can start talking about other things." "The Chinese unfortunately, are very large purchasers of sanctioned Iranian oil, sanctioned Russian oil. So we could start discussing that," he said. China's position as the main buyer of Iranian oil has served as a key lifeline for Tehran as its economy is battered by international sanctions. The world's second biggest economy is also a key purchaser of Russian energy. Bessent on Monday threatened US action against those who buy Russian oil, pointing to a strategy in which "any country who buys sanctioned Russian oil is going to be subject to up to 100 per cent secondary tariffs". This suggests that Washington might impose heavy duties on countries it finds to be buying such Russian energy exports. "I would urge our European allies, who have talked a big game, to follow us if we implement these secondary tariffs," Bessent said.
Telegraph
18-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Afghan migrants bring 22 relatives to UK
Afghans have been able to bring 22 family members to the UK after relatives previously rejected for asylum were allowed in following a military data breach. The disclosure will increase fears that national security could have been compromised in the confusion that followed the most damaging data breach in British history. Government sources say Afghans who were flown to Britain brought an average of eight family members with them, leaving officials scrambling to find accommodation for them. Ministers were even forced to consider 'knocking two houses into one' on military bases to accommodate individual families. But the public was kept in the dark because of a super-injunction that was extended at Sir Grant Shapps's direction shortly before last year's general election. Sir Grant has now been accused of 'trying to rewrite history' after he claimed on Friday he was 'surprised' that the super-injunction stayed in place for so long after it was granted in September 2023, when in truth he successfully appealed against a judge's decision to lift it in May 2024. The Conservative government took action in 2023 when it learnt that a list of nearly 19,000 Afghans who had applied to come to Britain was wrongly shared by a defence official in 2022. The Afghans, who included special forces soldiers, had applied through a scheme for those who had worked with or alongside the British Armed Forces during the war in Afghanistan, making them potential targets of the Taliban. In March last year, the Government set up an emergency scheme, called the Afghanistan Response Route, to airlift people named in the data breach to the UK. Whitehall sources have told The Telegraph that one person who came to the UK was allowed to bring 22 family members, while others were in the 'high teens'. Defence ministers had wanted to restrict arrivals to married couples and their children, but UK courts repeatedly expanded the eligibility criteria, citing the European Convention on Human Rights. There was a dramatic change in the criteria last November, when High Court judge Mrs Justice Yip ruled in a case brought against the Foreign Office by an Afghan already living here that family members did not have to have a blood or legal connection to the applicant. Her ruling stated: 'The term 'family member' does not have any fixed meaning in law or in common usage. Indeed, the word 'family' may mean different things to different people and in different contexts. There may be cultural considerations … there is no requirement for a blood or legal connection.' Court documents previously kept secret by the super-injunction – which was finally lifted earlier this week – show that only 10 per cent of the extended family members that applicants wanted to bring to the UK had been deemed eligible under previously existing routes. The document states: 'Given the increased risk to some AFM [additional family members] as a result of the data incident, officials expect the number of applications and success rate to increase… 'Officials estimate that upwards of 55% of AFM will be eligible in light of the incident – up to approximately 12,500 AFM across all eligible cohorts.' Only 2,200 of those people were deemed eligible previously, meaning Sir Grant was prepared to accept more than 10,000 who had been deemed ineligible. Sources in Afghanistan have told The Telegraph that in the 'chaos' that followed the data breach, criminals, including junior staff who had stolen from British bases and sold weapons to the Taliban, had come to the UK with large numbers of family members, while military commanders who served alongside the Army had been left behind. The resettlement of Afghans in the UK led to major rows in Government, it emerged this week, as Cabinet ministers expressed concerns about the number of bogus claimants who could end up coming to the UK and the implications for national security.
Times
18-07-2025
- Politics
- Times
Grant Shapps: I'd gag Afghan data leak again to save lives
Sir Grant Shapps defended keeping the superinjunction over the Afghan data breach in place and said he would 'do the same thing all over again'. The court order, which was lifted on Tuesday, prevented parliament and the public from knowing about a data breach that put up to 100,000 Afghans at risk. The data breach happened when a British soldier trying to verify Afghan applications to come to the UK mistakenly sent the entire database of 33,000 records to Afghans in the UK. The list was then sent on to people in Afghanistan. • UK special forces, MI6 spies and military officers named in Afghan data leak Shapps, who became defence secretary in August 2023 shortly before the superinjunction was imposed, said: 'Faced with the decision of protecting lives — both Brits and Afghanis — I would do the same thing all over again. I would walk over hot coals.' Speaking to the BBC's Today programme, the former Conservative minister said the injunction had been applied by his predecessor, Ben Wallace, 'quite rightly, in my view', and came into place as he came into office. 'And it is the case that I thought that once the superinjunction was in place, it should remain as a superinjunction,' he added. Shapps said: 'And I'll tell you what, anybody sat behind the desk that I was sat in as defence secretary and faced with the choice of whether that list would get out and people would be pursued, murdered and executed as a result of it, or doing something to try and save those lives, I'd much rather now be in this interview explaining why a superinjunction was required than being in this interview explaining why I failed to act and people were murdered.' He added that 'the public understands that there are times where you simply have to act in the most maximalist way in order to stop people from being murdered and executed, and that is, quite simply, what properly happened in this case.' • The Times view: Urgent parliamentary scrutiny on Afghan data breach is needed The former MP for Welwyn Hatfield insisted that his focus as defence secretary was on 'sorting out the mess and saving lives' and 'making sure the systems were in place which frankly should have always been in place to make sure this sort of sensitive information could never be sent on'. But he said he was 'surprised' the gagging order remained in place for 'so long'. He said: 'My expectation was, as the risks start to lessen over time and people are removed from the theatre, from Afghanistan, and measures are taken to protect the Brits on the list … I'd thought that it was probably going to come to an end last summer, the autumn perhaps at maximum.'
The Independent
17-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Intelligence committee demands to know why ministers kept them in the dark over Afghan data breach
Furious members of the parliamentary committee which deals with national security have written to ministers demanding to know why they were kept in the dark for three years over the Afghan data breach. The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) has a statutory duty to oversee and scrutinise intelligence matters but were not informed of the data breach, which affected up to 100,000 Afghans and cost the UK taxpayer an estimated £7bn, for three years. The breach happened when an unnamed official, who was not sacked, sent an email with a datasheet of what they thought were 150 names to help get them evacuated as the Taliban swept to power. But instead the data contained details of thousands of Afghans who were then left exposed. In a terse letter to ministers, the chairman of the committee, Lord Beamish, has warned that there were 'no grounds' to withhold the information from them. The committee notoriously operates in secret and does not reveal the sensitive issues it has discussed, as a means of ensuring that the intelligence and security services are held to account. Ministers have also been ordered to release sensitive papers on the Afghan data breach which put the lives of up to 100,000 Afghans at risk and cost the government £7bn while a secret route for asylum was created. In a statement issued after the ISC met on Thursday morning, the Labour peer Lord Beamish said: 'The committee has today written to require, under the statutory powers the committee has in the Justice and Security Act 2013, that Defence Intelligence (DI) and Joint Intelligence Organisation assessments be provided to it immediately, together with any other intelligence assessments as referred to by Mr Justice Chamberlain in his judgement of 15 July, the closed version of the Review by Paul Rimmer, and all other DI material relating to the ARAP scheme.' He added: 'The committee has also asked to be provided with the basis on which government counsel advised the Court of Appeal that material relating to the data loss could not be shared with this committee, given that under the Justice and Security Act 2013 classification or sensitivity of material is not grounds on which information can be withheld from the ISC.' Former Tory defence secretary Sir Ben Wallace has taken full responsibility for the breach and the decision to initially get an injunction to prevent publication of the details. His successor Sir Grant Shapps, armed forces minister James Heappey and former prime minister Rishi Sunak who oversaw the cover up have yet to make a public statement. Labour defence secretary John Healey decided to lift the superinjunction preventing publication and even discussion about the data breach on Tuesday, having previously ordered a review by Paul Rimmer. Senior ministers have told The Independent about their 'total shock' when they were presented with the facts of the breach and the super injunction on their first day in office last year.
