The U.S. military really needs to rethink the recruitment of foreign nationals. Especially from Mainland China.
Last week I noted the disturbing number of arrests of Chinese personnel in the US Navy for selling secrets to China.
This latest episode involves the US Army.
Three people, including two active-duty JBLM soldiers, were arrested following federal grand jury indictments in Oregon and Washington, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
The DOJ reported that Jian Zhao and Li Tian, both stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, along with former soldier Ruoyu Duan, face serious charges related to espionage and bribery.
The DOJ said in Washington, Zhao is accused of conspiring since July 2024 to leak national defense information to individuals in China. The DOJ also noted that Zhao allegedly negotiated the sale of classified hard drives, marked “SECRET” and “TOP SECRET,” and received at least $10,000 in exchange.
Zhao is also accused of conspiring to sell a stolen encryption-capable computer and sensitive military documents, including information on the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) and U.S. military readiness “in the event of a conflict with the People’s Republic of China.”
There are lots of statements about how we’re not going to tolerate this anymore,but what are we going to do about it?
“While bribery and corruption have thrived under China’s Communist Party, this behavior cannot be tolerated with our service members who are entrusted with sensitive military information, including national defense information,” wrote FBI Director Kash Patel.
This is a recruitment problem.
The military has been recruiting foreign nationals who are non-citizens don’t even speak English in some cases. Are we really surprised at the outcome here?
Take this video of a recruitment office posted by Jennifer Zheng.
Can you believe this is a US NAVY Recruiting Office in Alhambra, CA? EVERY recruiter here is Chinese, as well as all the people coming to enlist. The working language here is also Chinese.
The video was filmed by a Chinese language YouTuber, and the US NAVY recruiter who took… pic.twitter.com/GeP7xZgJQL
— Inconvenient Truths by Jennifer Zeng (@jenniferzeng97) December 10, 2024
You can’t maintain national security under such conditions.
Daniel Greenfield
Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism.
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