Raven Pleads Guilty: My Counterterrorism Magazine Piece On The Former Navy Sailor Who Planned An Attack On The Great Lakes Naval Station

Counterterrorism magazine published my piece on the former sailor who planned to attack the Greak Lakes Naval Station.  

You can read the piece via the pages above and below or the text below:   

Raven Pleads Guilty: Former U.S. Navy Sailor Planned Attack

On Naval Station Great Lakes

By Paul Davis

On February 27, 2025, the U.S. Justice Department announced that a former U.S Navy sailor had pleaded guilty in federal court in Chicago to plotting to attack the Naval Station Great Lakes in North Chicago, Illinois, purportedly on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

According to the Justice Department, Xuanyu Harry Pang, 38, who also went by the name “Raven,” of North Chicago, Illinois, pleaded guilty to conspiring to and attempting to willfully injure and destroy national defense material, national defense premises, and national defense utilities, with the intent to injure, interfere with, and obstruct the national defense of the United States.

According to court records, in 2021, “Pang communicated with an individual in Colombia about potentially assisting with a plan involving Iranian actors to conduct an attack against the United States to avenge the death of Qasem Soleimani, a general of the IRGC Quds Force who was killed by the U.S. military in 2020.”

In a January 2, 2020 press release, the U.S. Defense Department stated, “At the direction of the President, the U.S. military has taken decisive defensive action to protect U.S. personnel abroad by killing Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. 

“General Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region. General Soleimani and his Quds Force were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more. He had orchestrated attacks on coalition bases in Iraq over the last several months – including the attack on December 27th – culminating in the death and wounding of additional American and Iraqi personnel. General Soleimani also approved the attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad that took place this week. This strike was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans. The United States will continue to take all necessary action to protect our people and our interests wherever they are around the world. The Quds Force is a branch of the IRGC that conducts unconventional warfare and intelligence activities outside of Iran.”

The Justice Department noted that a covert FBI employee, posing as an affiliate of the Quds Force, subsequently communicated online with the individual in Colombia about conducting an attack.

“The individual in Colombia put the covert FBI employee in touch with Pang, who at the time was stationed and residing at Naval Station Great Lakes. The pair communicated online through an encrypted messaging application about possible targets for the attack, including Naval Station Great Lakes and other locations in the Chicago area. Pang and the individual in Colombia agreed to help the covert FBI employee and his purported associates with their operation to conduct the attack in the United States, court records state.

“On three occasions in the fall of 2022, Pang personally met with another individual working with the FBI who was posing as an associate of the covert FBI employee. The first meeting took place outside of the Ogilvie Transportation Center in downtown Chicago, and the two other meetings were held at a train station in Lake Bluff, Illinois. During the meetings in Lake Bluff, as the plot coalesced into an attack on the Naval Station, Pang displayed photos and videos on his phone of multiple locations inside the Naval Station. He also provided two U.S. military uniforms – for operatives to wear inside the base during the attack – and a cell phone that could be used as a test for a detonator.”

In a sworn affidavit, FBI Special Agent Thomas Mata stated, “I am a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) and have been so employed since approximately June 2021. I am currently assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force, and my responsibilities include the investigation of criminal violations relating to international terrorism. As part of my duties as an FBI Special Agent, I investigate criminal violations relating to terrorism offenses, including, but not limited to, Title 18, United States Code, Sections 2332a and 2339B. I have also participated in numerous terrorism training courses throughout my law enforcement career. I am familiar with and have used common methods of investigation, including, but not limited to, visual and electronic surveillance such as court-authorized intercepts, debriefing and questioning of witnesses and defendants, and the use of search and arrest warrants, pen registers, and undercover agents. 

“This affidavit is submitted in support of a criminal complaint alleging that XUANYU HARRY PANG, also known as Raven, violated Title 18, United States Code, Section 2339B by attempting to provide material support and resources, namely, property and services, to a designated foreign terrorist organization, namely, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF) and Kata’ib Hizballah (KH). 1 3. 

“According to government records, PANG is a 36-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Changchun City, China and relocated to the United States in June 1998. On or about February 1, 2022, PANG enlisted in the U.S. Navy and is currently in training at the U.S. Navy’s Great Lakes Naval Station. Based on physical surveillance and PANG’s U.S. Navy enlistment documents, PANG also resides at the Great Lakes Naval Station in North Chicago, Illinois. As described below, PANG attempted to provide material support and resources to designated foreign terrorist organizations, specifically an Iraqi-based Hizballah group acting on behalf of and at the direction of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force (IRGC-QF) as part of a purported plot to attack the Great Lakes Naval Station in North Chicago, Illinois. PANG was informed that the purpose of the attack was to seek revenge for the death of IRGC General Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a strike conducted by the U.S. military in January 2020. 

“PANG provided logistical assistance, such as taking surveillance photos and videos of the outside and inside of the base, and agreed to provide military uniforms and a phone that could be used as a detonator for an explosive device to an FBI confidential human source (CHS) in support of this planned attack.”

Pang is currently detained without bond, and he is scheduled to be sentenced at a later date. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Sue Bai, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, Acting U.S. Attorney Morris Pasqual for the Northern District of Illinois, Assistant Director David J. Scott of the FBI's Counterterrorism Division, and Special Agent in Charge Douglas S. DePodesta of the FBI Chicago Field Office announced the guilty plea.

“The FBI Chicago Joint Terrorism Task Force – which is comprised of multiple federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies – is investigating the case, with valuable assistance provided by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service,” the Justice Department stated. “Assistant U.S. Attorneys Aaron Bond, Vikas Didwania, and Brandon Stone for the Northern District of Illinois and Trial Attorneys John Cella and Charles Kovats of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section are prosecuting the case.”

According to the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Naval Station Great Lakes (NSGL) opened in 1911. The base is the Navy’s largest training installation and the home of the Navy’s only Boot Camp. Located on over 1,600 acres overlooking Lake Michigan, the installation includes 1,153 buildings with 39 on the National Register of Historic Places. NSGL supports over 50 tenant commands and elements as well as over 20,000 Sailors, Marines, Soldiers, and DoD civilians who live and work on the installation. 

NSGL operations, along with area military retirees and educational aid payments, increased Illinois' gross domestic product by $4.6 billion. Naval Station Great Lakes’ mission is to enable and sustain Fleet, Family and Fighter by providing superior, integrated Base Operating Support for all tenant commands and elements on the installation. 

Paul Davis, who attended U.S. Navy Boot Camp in 1970 at the Great Lakes Training Center, is a longtime contributor to The Journal and writes the online Threatcon column.

Note: The above article shows Xuanyu Harry Pang with two NCIS special agents.