The U.S. Justice
Department released the below information:
A former Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) case officer pleaded guilty today to conspiring to
communicate, deliver and transmit national defense information to the People’s
Republic of China. Assistant Attorney General for National Security John
C. Demers, U.S. Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger for the Eastern District of
Virginia, Assistant Director for Counterintelligence John Brown of the FBI and
Assistant Director in Charge Nancy McNamara of the FBI’s Washington Field
Office made the announcement after Senior U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III
accepted the plea.
According to court
documents, Jerry Chun Shing Lee, 54, left the CIA in 2007 and began residing in
Hong Kong. In April 2010, two Chinese intelligence officers (IOs)
approached Lee and offered to pay him for national defense information he had
acquired as a CIA case officer. The IOs also told Lee they had prepared
for him a gift of $100,000 cash, and they offered to take care of him “for
life” in exchange for his cooperation.
Beginning sometime in
May 2010 and continuing into at least 2011, Lee received requests for
information, or taskings, from the Chinese IOs. The majority of the
taskings asked Lee to reveal sensitive information about the CIA, including
national defense information. On May 14, 2010, Lee made or caused to be
made a cash deposit of $138,000 HKD (approximately $17,468 in USD) into his
personal bank account in Hong Kong. This would be the first of hundreds
of thousands of dollars (USD equivalent) in cash deposits Lee made or caused to
be made into his personal HSBC account from May 2010 through December 2013.
“This is the third
case in less than a year in which a former US intelligence officer has pled or
been found guilty of conspiring with Chinese intelligence services to pass them
national defense information,” said Assistant Attorney General Demers.
“Every one of these cases is a tragic betrayal of country and colleagues.
The National Security Division will continue to prosecute individuals
like Lee who abuse their former access to classified information for financial
gain while threatening the security of America. Many thanks to the
agents, analysts and prosecutors whose work led to today’s outcome.”
“Those Americans
entrusted with our government’s most closely held secrets have a tremendous
responsibility to safeguard that information,” said U.S. Attorney Terwilliger.
“Instead of embracing that responsibility and honoring his commitment to
not disclose national defense information, Lee sold out his country, conspired
to become a spy for a foreign government, and then repeatedly lied to
investigators about his conduct. This prosecution should serve as a
warning to others who would compromise our nation’s secrets and betray our
country’s trust. My thanks to the prosecutors, agents and our
intelligence community partners for their terrific work on this important
case.”
“Today, Mr. Lee
accepts responsibility not only for his crimes but also for their dangerous
ramifications” said Assistant Director Brown. “By knowingly aiding a
foreign government, Mr. Lee put our country’s national security at serious risk
and also threatened the safety and personal security of innocent people, namely
his former intelligence colleagues. He deserves to answer for his
treachery and he will do so as a result of the dedication of the FBI’s
Counterintelligence Division, the Washington Field Office, and the Department
of Justice in pursuing this case.”
“Today's guilty plea
is an example of how the FBI and the Department of Justice successfully pursue
threats to our nation's security and intelligence,” said Assistant Director
McNamara. “U.S. Government employees are entrusted by the American people
to keep our country safe and secure from adversaries. The targeting of
former U.S. security clearance holders by Chinese intelligence services is a
constant threat we face, and the FBI will continue to combat these threats and
guard our nation against those who conspire to compromise our national
security. I would like to thank the hardworking people of the FBI who
work each day to defend our security and intelligence.”
On May 26, 2010, Lee
created on his laptop computer a document that described, among other things,
certain locations to which the CIA would assign officers with certain
identified experience, as well as the particular location and timeframe of a
sensitive CIA operation. After Lee created this document, he transferred
it from his laptop to a thumb drive. The document included national
defense information of the United States that was classified at the Secret
level.
In August 2012, the
FBI conducted a court-authorized search of a hotel room in Honolulu, Hawaii
registered in Lee’s name. The search revealed that Lee possessed the
thumb drive within his personal luggage. The FBI forensically imaged the
thumb drive and later located the document in the unallocated space of the
thumb drive, meaning that it had been deleted. The search also revealed
that Lee possessed a day planner and an address book that contained handwritten
notes made by Lee that related to his work as a CIA case officer prior to
2004. These notes included, among other things, intelligence provided by
CIA assets, true names of assets, operational meeting locations and phone
numbers, and information about covert facilities.
During 2012, Lee had a
series of interviews with the CIA. Throughout these interviews, in
response to questions about what the IOs had wanted from him, Lee intentionally
failed to disclose that he had received taskings from them. In May 2013,
the FBI conducted three interviews with Lee. During one of those
interviews, Lee admitted that he had received taskings but stated that he had
not kept the written requests because they would tend to incriminate him.
The FBI interviewers
also confronted Lee with the sensitive document discovered on the thumb
drive. Lee falsely denied that he possessed it, claimed not to know who
created it, and denied knowing why it would have been on his computer. He
also denied deleting the document. Approximately one week later, in
another FBI interview, Lee admitted that he created the document in response to
two taskings from the IOs and transferred it to a thumb drive. He also
said he thought about giving it to the IOs but never did.
In a January 2018
interview with the FBI, Lee falsely denied that he ever kept any work-related
notes at home. When shown a photocopy of the front covers of the day
planner and address book described above, as well as a copy of his handwriting
therein, Lee falsely denied that he possessed the notebooks while transiting
through Hawaii in August 2012. Lee also falsely denied that either of the
books contained notes from asset meetings but conceded that any such notes
would be classified. Further, Lee falsely denied that he ever put the sensitive
document on a thumb drive, notwithstanding the fact that he had admitted having
done so when interviewed by FBI agents in May 2013. Finally, Lee also
falsely told the interviewing agents that in drafting this document he was
writing down things “more [like] a diary thing,” notwithstanding the fact that
in May 2013 he had told FBI agents that he had created the document in response
to two taskings from the Chinese IOs.
Lee pleaded guilty to
conspiracy to deliver national defense information to aid a foreign government
and faces a maximum penalty of life in prison when sentenced on Aug. 23,
2019. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the
maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any
sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other
statutory factors.
Assistant U.S.
Attorney Neil Hammerstrom and Trial Attorneys Patrick T. Murphy and Adam L.
Small of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export
Control Section are prosecuting the case.
