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Oskar Garcia / AP
The home of civilian defense contractor Benjamin Pierce Bishop in Kapolei, Hawaii, is seen at right on March 18, 2013.
A U.S. defense contractor in Hawaii has been arrested on charges of passing national defense secrets, including classified information about nuclear weapons, to a Chinese woman with whom he was romantically involved, authorities said on Monday.
Benjamin Pierce Bishop, 59, a former U.S. Army officer who works as a civilian employee of a defense contractor at U.S. Pacific Command in Oahu was arrested on Friday and made his first appearance in federal court on Monday, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Hawaii said in a news release.
He is charged with one count of willfully communicating national defense information to a person not entitled to receive it, and one count of unlawfully retaining documents related to national defense. If convicted, he faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei, asked about the case at a daily news briefing in Beijing, said he did "not understand the relevant situation", and declined further comment.
China and the United States, the world's two largest economies, have long engaged in spying against each other.
Last year China arrested a Chinese state security official on suspicion of spying for the United States, sources said, a case both countries had kept quiet for several months as they strove to prevent a fresh crisis in relations.
That incident ranked as the most serious Sino-U.S. spying incident to be made public since 1985 when Yu Qiangsheng, an intelligence official, defected to the United States.
Yu told the Americans that a retired CIA analyst had been spying for China. The analyst killed himself in 1986 in a U.S. prison cell, days before he was due to be sentenced to a lengthy jail term.
'Person 1'
Bishop met the woman - a 27-year-old Chinese national identified as "Person 1" - in Hawaii during a conference on international military defense issues, according to the affidavit.
He had allegedly been involved in a romantic relationship since June 2011 with the woman, who was living in the United States on a visa, and had no security clearance.
From May of that year through December 2012, he allegedly passed national defense secrets to her on multiple occasions, including classified information about nuclear weapons and the planned deployment of U.S. strategic nuclear systems.
Other secrets included information on the United States' ability to detect foreign governments' low- and medium-range ballistic missiles, as well as information on the deployment of U.S. early warning radar systems in the Pacific Rim.
Bishop had top secret security clearance since July 2002. A court-authorized search of his home in November found around a dozen individual documents each with classification markings at the secret level, the affidavit said.
The case is being investigated by the FBI's Honolulu Division and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service in coordination with U.S. Pacific Command and the U.S. Army.
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
Leave a Comment:
He should fry that is treason if I have ever heard it.
What a putz. Fell for the "Me love you long time". Legalize prostitution to save state secrets already.
He is 59 and she is 27 looking like a 17 year old I am sure. She also say we be so so happy and I gib you happy ending eberry times. He needs to be shot and at minimum deport her @ss......
Sounds like espionage to me
No need for water boarding!!! Just a little mushy sex...and they will all spill their guts.
The Ft. Hood killer hasn't even been brought to trial yet and they are about to make a deal with him to take execution off the table.
Bet they have this guy wrapped up before Easter..... I mean, he isn't Muslim, is he?
Jesus Christ. There's no fool like an old fool.
He's no good. put away for life.
The little head doing all the thinking again!!
She didn't have diplomatic status ? Here on a visa, attending a defense contractor's meeting ? Top secret clearance to a 59 year old, who takes documents home and has a pechant for cute women half his age ?
And they say our intel community is incompetent. How could they say such nasty things ?
Give him the fuc_ing he deserves for the fuc_ing he got. One bullet to the useless head (on his shoulders, that is).
He is a traitor. Execute him. Buzzard food....
He seen too many 007 movies man. Idiot....
What can I say Creek Dog? I'm out for blood today...lol.
It just sucks that we spend so much time and effort trying to protect our families from getting nuked and who knows what else only for dirt bags like this to just hand over whatever for a roll in the hay.
Shouldn't the information of the type he was able to pass on be heavily guarded? Maybe those with access be watched?
shoot the guy if it makes you feel better. I'm more interested in the bozos who give out Top clearances to dummies and people with no self control. I want those guys dealt with. They are the real threat.
He should be tried for treason right alongside Bill Clinton, you know, the liar who sold Chicoms missile guidance systems for campaign cash.
He should be tried for treason right alongside the Bush administration and the GOTP.
He should be tried for treason, right along with BUSH for lies of no weapons of mass destruction and 54 murdered Americans in 12 embassy attacks during his 'reign' of terror. OOops, my bad, bush 'never happened' and we are not supposed to hold republicans to the same "HIGHER STANDARDS" they set for democrats.
Obama lies, Clinton cheated...man just get over yourself!!!!! Look at what Bush (W) did to this country, this world...oh but it's OK because he's the GOP....he and his "boys" did more damage to this country/world than any leader besides Hilter!!!!!!!!
Obama-Lies, you don't have a clue. Where was your slack-jaw-right-wing-azz when bush sent our brave men and women on a war started with lies? Did you ask for him to be impeached?
I guess not, you right wing trailer park dip chit..
Let's not forget Prick Cheney...I mean Dick Cheney!! He is the biggest traitor of them all. Bush was merely a puppet. The guy (GWB) had no brains to make his own conclusions.
Clinton cheated on his wife...like nearly 50% of the country that cheats on their spouses. Obama, not sure what he lied about except that he quickly learned how much deep sh*t this country was really in when he took office in 2009. Has the GOP learned their lessons as to why they cannot win a national election? The answer is "no". Congress needs to stop allowing out jobs to go out of this country for the sake of PROFITS that only go back into the economy of other countries who cannot support themselves...like CHINA!!
You people are all just a bunch of petty, misinformed little jerks.
Bill Clinton? Sounds like a conspiracy theorist trying to make his cockamammy dellusions heard by a wider audience.
I think Obama-Lies just stopped watching his relatives on Jerry Springer long enough to sign onto his "camputar" long enough to let us know he can spell bigger words than KAT too.
Bill Clinton ? Sounds like he might want a "piece" of this action ! Slick Willie has been looking for a new Presidential "knob polisher" ever since Monica left town !!
Well, in our new, kinder army he certainly should be scolded. Perhaps a stern letter too. After all, he was in love. You don't want this to become a woman issue, do you?
Oh Bill: best post in this string yet. Thanks.
Oh man ....This guy is in a world of hurt. Off to the FED PEN....
No less than a prison term of life is deserved for these treasonous acts.
The guy is OLD. Nothing like a HOT Asian 27 year old to spark up the old furnace.
Oh yeah, this younger woman is hot for me. They must not have any great old men like me in China. What a moron.
I'm old and I wouldn't f**k with your d**k. Loud noise and slanted eyes still give me the creeps.
I gotta agree with you. They don't need any intercontinental ballistic missiles, just some young hot
p u s s y will do the trick.
But, this is ageless, look what happen to Adam, Samson and a whole lot of others..
Of course not, in China men go for the women who are intelligent. In the USA men think with the head between their legs. They don't care for women who can think for themselves like the women in the USA. This is why the men in the USA are so easy for the women of China and other foreign countries.
I wonder how much money China paid her!!! :0)
I have to agree with Ray-2194047. Some Asian women are hot and sexy. A memory that he will take to jail with him. I hope it sustains him.
Wish I had top secret clearance to get some of that....
Berenerd: You might get Top clearance if you ask. Apparently they give it to anybody. They still dealing with that Private who gave a truck load of top secret docs to wiki ? Top clearance to an old guy that loves young chicks, and young privates who still use clearasil and they are allowed to walk out with packets of documents and pockets full of thumbdrives. You should ask, you might get it.
Any thought of bringing charges on the bozos that hired and supervised these people ? How bout the bozos that gave em clearance ? How do you get top clearance ? They ask you if you are trustworthy, you answer yes. They ask you if you are loyal and if you know when a thing is important. You answer yes. They ask if you will keep the important stuff safe. You answer yes. Good, you are cleared.
i thought the USA missiles had "made in china" on them??? we get everything else from them..
SHHH... careful, the Republicans would love to outsource this as well.
ItsAbouTime- I have a palm that wants ot have a meeting with your forehead.
There is no difference between what this guy did and what Bradley Manning did. Both traitors and both should be executed.
No. Bradley Manning acted in a criminal manner to compromise national security over a matter of conscience, and he gave secrets to the press, not a rival superpower. This idiot sold his country's nuclear weapons secrets out to our primary geopolitical rival because he was horny. Both people are legitimately suspected of committing serious crimes, but in my book this guy is much much worse... and much more of a bozo.
Seriously? Willfully betraying your country over sex? Betraying nuke secrets over a hot babe?
Yes, that is what happens when men think with the head between their legs instead of the on on their shoulders!!
There is a big difference beween what this guy did and what Bradley Manning did. Passing information about where and when we are deploying nuclear weapons is a hell of a lot more sensitive than pointing out instances of US war crimes.
This guy should be hung or get a life sentence, at a minimum and Bradley Manning should be let go and sentenced to time served.
I think you mean he should be hanged. He may already be hung, hence the hot young asian babes.
The very least prison term should be life, without parole. I shudder when I think of our servicemen/women putting their lives on the line all the while bastards like him were selling military defense info. Either he's a turncoat or was letting his penis do his thinking for him.
Bishop met the woman - a 27-year-old Chinese national identified as "Person 1" - in Hawaii during a conference on international military defense issues, according to the affidavit.
He had allegedly been involved in a romantic relationship since June 2011 with the woman, who was living in the United States on a visa, and had no security clearance.
That wouldn't have happened if he were gay.
If he were gay, the exchanges would have occurred at the gloryhole in the rest stop you've been known to frequent.
You're an idiot, NoRightTurn.
Probably sell his mother if the price was right.
Everybody who works on classified documents goes to dozens of security briefings warning them about security, spies, who to be suspicious of, etc. Going to a conference in Hawaii and being approached by a Chinese woman should have set off about a thousand red flags. Sleeping with her and sharing classified secrets... just no.
He had to know exactly what he was doing. This is exactly what he was trained to be suspicious of and avoid.
59 year old man with a 27 year old woman??? Either he was loaded with money or had a GREAT personality. Unless you look like George Clooney, no 27-year old woman is going to be attracted to a much older man without a reason.
We spy on them, and they spy on us. That is just the order of business. A 59 year old defense contractor and a 27 year old Chinese babe....LOL. That should have raised a flag as well as other things.
Yeah.. where's our counterintelligence capability? Anyone with access to nuke secrets having a relationship with a foreign national - any foreign national - should've raised red flags from the getgo, hopefully.
People with who work with such sensitive information shouldn't be allowed to date foreign nationals, period, in my opinion. Even our allies spy on us to try to steal this type of data, much less countries like China.
Anybody with a security clearance is required to report contact with foreign nationals. The fact that he did not do this (inferred) means that he already was a security risk. He had to have had a secret security clearance for a lot longer than since 2002 since he was an Army officer and they are required to have a clearance. Here is another case of espionage that will end up costing the government millions to mitigate the damage done by this guy. We should have an expedited trial process to send the message that it is life in prison or death for selling defense secrets to our potential enemies.
If only he had used a condom.
Did she "Love him long time?"
the stupid who gave the info out should be locked up for life, and the woman who received the info should not be allowed to leave the U.S. perhaps if she does she will give that info out. Detain her as well.
GE does it all the time. They don't pay taxes and I hear they have a contact high up in the White House that keeps them from being investigated.
Another reason we should get rid of government contractors, in any areas where defense and national security can be compromised. They take no oath, they are not controllable, and their main goal in making money, not the safety of out country.
Absolutely idiotic statement giovanna!
I thought treason was punishable by death? - isn't this considered treason?
Regrettably no. Treason - which is defined in the constitution - applies only during war time, against an enemy with whom we have hostilities (for example, Adam Pearlman Gadahn, a member of the Al Qaeda high command, is presently under indictment in absentia for treason against the United States). But if this idiot did enough damage, espionage is still theoretically punishable by death by itself.
Unclear from the article whether we managed to arrest the Chinese honeytrap spy as well. She might be valuable in exchanging for the guy they have in prison for spying for us.
If you read the Constitution, treason is defined as levying war against the US or aiding the enemies. We are not at war with China. This is espionage, not treason. Still, I'd be in favor of frying the guy.
Umm... what this man did was commit treason. We may not have an 'official' war with China, but umm.. make no mistake, we are at 'a cold war' with China.
He placed this nation at greater risk by giving up the secrets.
Execute him. Gave secrets to the enemy. And yes, they are the enemy.
Can someone please explain to me what has changed, with reference to China's relation to the USA, since the 1960s?
Simple The communists are making more money and partaking in their favorite pass time, other than killing female babies. That is high stakes gambling.
I answer my own question. It is called Walmart and all large companies doing business in China have conned us into thinking they are different. They have paid political apologists working in this country. Listen to the brainwashed posters. See how they are reeling in on N. Korea? LOL.
Julius and Ethel Rosenbrg were fried for the same thing--only they gave the secrets to Russia.
We don't normally execute for that crime anymore.. mostly, I think, because of questions asked about how Julius and Ethel were treated, but I believe espionage is still theoretically punishable by death. I don't know what the circumstances have to be, though. Still, life (or 20 years, in this guy's case) in solitary is pretty darn unpleasant, and I believe we do keep convicted spies in solitary.
Time for a military tribunal and execution. No appeals or political correctness for these Washington insiders.