A former FBI technician who was given top secret clearance is facing a potentially long stretch in jail after pleading guilty to acting as a Chinese spy.
Guangdong-born Kun Shan (Joey) Chun moved to the US in 1980 aged 11 and became a US citizen five years later, before joining the Bureau in 1997 – becoming an electronics technician in the New York Field Office.
Between 2006 and 2010, Chun is said to have acted in a research and consultancy role, supplying info to officials who claimed to be working for the Zhuhai Kolion Technology Company – a firm one of Chun’s relatives had a stake in.
Then on a trip to Italy and France in 2011 he was introduced to a Chinese handler, to whom he disclosed secret info on the FBI – on that visit and in subsequent meetings abroad, according to the DoJ.
He also lied to FBI officials about his meetings and relationships with these people and Kolion – in pre- and post-trip debriefing forms and in a random security clearance investigation.
Among the information Chun handed over to China were a document detailing the organizational structure of the FBI, and docs detailing surveillance tech used by the Feds.
He later admitted the above to an FBI undercover employee and then tried to recruit him as a spy for the Chinese state, asking that he receive a cut of whatever Beijing paid the employee.
Chun was arrested in March this year and pleaded guilty to one count of “acting in the United States as an agent of China without providing notice to the Attorney General.”
The offense carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, and assistant attorney general John Carlin’s subsequent statement hinted at a long time behind bars for Chun.
“Kun Shan Chun violated our nation’s trust by exploiting his official U.S. Government position to provide restricted and sensitive FBI information to the Chinese Government,” he said. “Holding accountable those who work as illegal foreign agents to the detriment of the United States is among the highest priorities of the National Security Division.”
Chun’s case comes at a time when tensions are running high between the two superpowers, thanks to persistent Chinese cyber espionage efforts, attempts by Beijing to target US companies inside China, territorial disputes in the South China Sea, and revelations of US spying on foreign powers by Edward Snowden.