Naval flight Officer To Serve 6 Years For Illegally Sharing Classified Information

Courtney Mabeus at the Virginian-Pilot offers a piece on the sentencing of a naval officer who pleaded guilty to passing classified information.

A naval flight officer who pleaded guilty last month to violating the federal Espionage Act will serve six years in confinement.

Lt. Cmdr. Edward C. Lin (seen in the above U.S. Navy photo), 40, also will be dismissed from the Navy under the sentence issued late Friday by military judge Cmdr. Robert Monahan, who deliberated for four hours. Monahan sentenced Lin to nine years, but under a pretrial agreement he will serve six, receive credit for the more than 600 days he was held before trial and have three years suspended.

Lin’s sentencing followed a two-day hearing during which he offered the first personal details in a case that once was reported as a sex-for-secrets intrigue. Lin described a series of reckless, arrogant missteps in which he failed to report foreign contacts and that led him to share unspecified classified information.

“I’m physically ill when I think about what could have happened because of what I said,” Lin said Friday.

Lin was arrested in September 2015 in Hawaii where he was planning to board a plane to China to meet a woman he met online. He initially faced espionage charges under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. But in May he pleaded guilty to two less onerous charges – under the Espionage Act – that he deliberately disclosed classified information. He also pleaded guilty to charges involving failure to report his foreign contacts, twice mishandling classified information and twice making false statements about his travel plans. Prosecutors dropped other charges, including adultery and prostitution.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://pilotonline.com/news/military/local/naval-flight-officer-to-serve-years-for-illegally-sharing-classified/article_7f56586f-9fc7-5232-9559-d4a7a4205675.html 

U.S. Navy: Sailor Charged With Espionage Admitted Wrongs During Interrogation

Brock Vergakis at the Virginian-Pilot offers a piece on the Lin espionage case.

A Taiwanese-born sailor charged with espionage admitted to the crime after he was arrested at Honolulu’s airport and was interrogated by Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents, but his attorney says the statement shouldn’t be admissible at a trial, according to evidence presented at a preliminary hearing at Norfolk Naval Station last month.

Lt. Cmdr. Edward C. Lin is a naval flight officer who faces two counts of espionage, three counts of attempted espionage and five counts of communicating defense information. Espionage is one of the most serious crimes in the Uniform Code of Military Justice, punishable under certain circumstances by death.

The Navy played audio from Lin’s hearing for media outlets in Norfolk and at the Pentagon on Thursday. No witnesses testified, but prosecutors and defense attorneys submitted documentary evidence. Lin declined to make a statement at the hearing.

It’s unclear when a decision will be made on whether to try Lin. U.S. Fleet Forces Command commander Adm. Phil Davidson doesn’t have a deadline for that decision.

Cmdr. Johnathan Stephens, a military prosecutor, said agents interrogated Lin for about 11 hours over two days. Stephens said video from the questioning shows Lin admitting to committing espionage, making false official statements and committing adultery.

The Navy has not publicly said what classified information it accuses Lin of providing or to which government, although Lin’s attorneys have said it is Taiwan.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://pilotonline.com/news/military/local/navy-sailor-charged-with-espionage-admitted-wrongs-during-interrogation/article_1e59bf9b-62b4-5f95-a162-8791d1e5f05a.html

Note: The above photo of Lin was released by the U.S. Navy.
  

Risk Of Exposing Navy Secrets Could Complicate Edward Lin Prosecution, Former Military Lawyers Say

Sam LaGrone at the USNI News offers a piece on the U.S. Navy officer being held on espionage charges.

The sensitivity of the classified information accused spy Lt. Cmdr. Edward Chieh-Liang Lin passed to China and Taiwan could make the case difficult to prosecute by military litigators and could lead to a plea deal on lesser charges, two former military lawyers told USNI News.

Lin, 39, was in a leadership position in the one of the U.S. Navy’s most closely guarded signals intelligence units when he was detained in September and accused of two instances of espionage on three others of attempted espionage.

It’s still unclear what classified information Lin is alleged to have shared but given his position it could have been among the Navy’s most sensitive signals intelligence secrets.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://news.usni.org/2016/04/18/risk-of-exposing-navy-secrets-could-complicate-edward-lin-prosecution-former-military-lawyers-say

U.S. Naval Flight Officer Lt. Cmdr. Edward Lin Accused Of Giving U.S. Secrets to China

Sam LaGrone at USNI News broke the news of the identity of the naval officer held on espionage charges.

A U.S. naval flight officer with an extensive signals intelligence background was accused by the service of passing secrets to China, USNI News has learned.

Lt. Cmdr. Edward C. Lin, who served on some of the Navy’s most sensitive intelligence gathering aircraft, faces several counts of espionage and other charges outlined during a Friday Article 32 hearing in Norfolk, Va.

Lin, originally a Taiwanese national before his family moved to he U.S., had a career as a signals intelligence specialist on the Navy’s Lockheed Martin E-P3E Aries II reconnaissance aircraft, several sources confirmed to USNI News.

Several sources familiar with the case told USNI News the country to which Lin passed secrets was China however, few other details are known about the case given much of the evidence is classified.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://news.usni.org/2016/04/10/u-s-naval-flight-officer-lt-cmdr-edward-lin-accused-of-giving-u-s-secrets-to-china