A Chinese-American dual national has pleaded guilty to stealing classified US defence technology used to detect nuclear launches and track ballistic missiles, among other capabilities.
According to the US Department of Justice (DOJ), 59-year-old Chenguang Gong, from San Jose, California, admitted guilt to one count of theft of trade secrets and remains free on a $1.75 million bond.
The DoJ says Gong’s actions caused an intended economic loss of more than $3.5 million. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, with sentencing set for 29 September.
DOJ prosecuters say Gong had transferred over 3,600 files from a Los Angeles-area research and development firm, where he was briefly employed last year, to personal storage devices.
The files included blueprints for advanced infrared sensors intended for use in space-based systems to detect nuclear missile launches, as well as to track ballistic and hypersonic missiles.
Other documents stolen by Gong pertained to sensors designed to equip US military aircraft with the ability to detect incoming heat-seeking missiles and deploy countermeasures such as jamming the missiles’ infrared tracking systems.
Gong had been hired in January 2023 as a design manager overseeing application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for infrared sensors.
Between 30 March and 26 April 2023, the DOJ said he copied over 3,600 files from his work laptop to personal devices, including more than 1,800 after he had accepted the rival job. Many documents were labelled “Proprietary Information” and “Export Controlled.”
The files contained proprietary information related to advanced readout integrated circuits used in missile launch detection systems and low-visibility threat tracking in military aircraft.
Some files outlined blueprints for “next-generation” sensors capable of identifying low-observable targets with enhanced survivability in space, along with engineering schematics for cryogenic sensor housing.
Officials described the stolen data as some of the company’s most valuable trade secrets, worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Separately, between 2014 and 2022, the accused had submitted several applications to Chinese state-run “Talent Programmes” designed to recruit experts in sensitive fields.
The DOJ said Gong sought to develop military-grade analogue-to-digital converters and low-light image sensors for night-vision systems. In one 2020 application, Gong submitted a video referencing proprietary sensor models from a defence firm he had previously worked at.
Prosecutors also cited a 2019 email in which Gong said he had “taken a risk” by participating in the programmes due to his ties to the US defence industry but believed he could contribute to China’s military chip design capabilities.