US jails Chinese engineer for exporting trade secrets

[BDforever]

A US court has sentenced a Chinese national to more than five years in prison for illegally exporting military trade secrets to China

Liu Sixing, who formerly worked in US company L-3 Communications, was accused of taking information on US missile, rocket and drone technology to China.

He was convicted of exporting military information, possessing stolen trade secrets, and lying to the authorities.

Liu says he did not break the law, or intend to pass secrets to China.

Liu Sixing, who was also known as Steve Liu, worked in L-3 Communications' space and navigation unit in New Jersey from 2009-2010 as a senior engineer.

Prosecutors say he stole thousands of computer files in 2010, and took them to China on his personal computer, where he gave presentations about the technology he was working on to universities and conferences linked to the Chinese government.

Prosecutors say he transported the files, which included information on the performance and design of guidance systems for missiles, rockets and unmanned drones, in the hope that it would help him gain future employment in China.

Federal agents say they discovered the computer when Liu returned to Newark Liberty International Airport in November 2010. Liu was convicted in September 2012.

Technical military data covered by US export regulations cannot be taken out of the country without a license.

"Instead of the accolades he sought from China, Sixing Liu today received the appropriate reward for his threat to our national security: 70 months in prison," prosecutor Paul Fishman said.

Liu's lawyer, James Tunick, said that Liu had made "a terrible mistake" by having the files on his computer and taking them to China, but that "it didn't rise to the level of a criminal act."

"He never intended to harm anyone," he said.

source:BBC News - US jails Chinese engineer for exporting trade secrets

 

[UKBengali]

This goes to show that the US is so desperate for engineers that it even employs foreigners to work on their military projects.

I was under the impression that you needed to be a US citizen before being employed in these positions!

 

[gambit]

This goes to show that the US is so desperate for engineers that it even employs foreigners to work on their military projects.

I was under the impression that you needed to be a US citizen before being employed in these positions!

No, you do not. And it depends on the project. For projects that are directly related to defense, either you must be a citizen or at least pass a background check. For projects that are indirectly applicable to defense, which is the majority of the work by any company that may (or may not) have a defense contract at any time, non-citizens who passed a background check can be employed by that company.

The bulk of these industrial espionage are non-defense related but the technology will truncate China's development time in incorporating any technology into defense related projects. Most people are under the impression that these thefts involves something fantastic like the 'blueprint' of the new rocket or of the Death Star itself when in reality most involves technical papers that are trade secrets regarding new materials, new circuit designs, new hypotheses, new manufacturing techniques, or even just new engineers hired. Little bits of information from here and there can hint at a larger picture.

It is one thing for companies to conduct industrial espionage, it is another when governments are involved. For the latter, it should be considers acts of war.

 

[Abhishek_]

This goes to show that the US is so desperate for engineers that it even employs foreigners to work on their military projects.

I was under the impression that you needed to be a US citizen before being employed in these positions!

attracting talent is a bad thing in Bangladesh?

 

[somebozo]

If that data was valuable , Chinese would have never let him return back to USA.

 

[UKBengali]

attracting talent is a bad thing in Bangladesh?

My point is that the US is so desperate for foreign talent that it even allows them to work on military projects. This leads to increasing the risk of leaking valuable data as these people have absolutely zero loyalty to the US.

Civilian projects is one thing but military projects should be a no-no

 

[UKBengali]

No, you do not. And it depends on the project. For projects that are directly related to defense, either you must be a citizen or at least pass a background check. For projects that are indirectly applicable to defense, which is the majority of the work by any company that may (or may not) have a defense contract at any time, non-citizens who passed a background check can be employed by that company.

The bulk of these industrial espionage are non-defense related but the technology will truncate China's development time in incorporating any technology into defense related projects. Most people are under the impression that these thefts involves something fantastic like the 'blueprint' of the new rocket or of the Death Star itself when in reality most involves technical papers that are trade secrets regarding new materials, new circuit designs, new hypotheses, new manufacturing techniques, or even just new engineers hired. Little bits of information from here and there can hint at a larger picture.

It is one thing for companies to conduct industrial espionage, it is another when governments are involved. For the latter, it should be considers acts of war.

You seriously are not suggesting going to war against China over this, are you?

 

[muse]

This goes to show that the US is so desperate for engineers that it even employs foreigners to work on their military projects.

I was under the impression that you needed to be a US citizen before being employed in these positions!

What it does show is that the US feels a lack of confidence in itself - this engineer, if he were a spy or meant to harm the US would be giving lectures?? and not in return for money but a job ?

 

[shuttler]

No, you do not. And it depends on the project. For projects that are directly related to defense, either you must be a citizen or at least pass a background check. For projects that are indirectly applicable to defense, which is the majority of the work by any company that may (or may not) have a defense contract at any time, non-citizens who passed a background check can be employed by that company.

The bulk of these industrial espionage are non-defense related but the technology will truncate China's development time in incorporating any technology into defense related projects. Most people are under the impression that these thefts involves something fantastic like the 'blueprint' of the new rocket or of the Death Star itself when in reality most involves technical papers that are trade secrets regarding new materials, new circuit designs, new hypotheses, new manufacturing techniques, or even just new engineers hired. Little bits of information from here and there can hint at a larger picture.

It is one thing for companies to conduct industrial espionage, it is another when governments are involved. For the latter, it should be considers acts of war.

anywhere said Liu is not a citizen of usa or he didnt pass the background check?



I dont know if Liu's employer has make it known to its staff of what are classified materials and bringing these materials in whatever forms outside of the company and usa must be approved

 

[gambit]

Note to future chinese nationals: Change your chinese first name for a hill billy one ... wear a baseball cap and act obnoxious to show you are truly american.

Actually, that is even worse. For that will immediately flag you as desperately trying to pass off as being something you are not. Sorry, pal, but not all Chinese are world class actors. But by all means, I encourage ALL Chinese foreign nationals to take your advice, someone who probably never served in the military, worked on defense related projects, and who never been to the US.

Way to go...

You seriously are not suggesting going to war against China over this, are you?

Yes, I do.

I dont know if Liu's employer has make it known to its staff of what are classified materials and bringing these materials in whatever forms outside of the company and usa must be approved

It does not matter. You think non-defense related work have no restrictions? Try working at Sony or Samsung and see. I see this argument as a feeble attempt to remove any espionage aspects of this from Liu. He may be innocent. Or he may not.

 

[shuttler]

It does not matter. You think non-defense related work have no restrictions? Try working at Sony or Samsung and see. I see this argument as a feeble attempt to remove any espionage aspects of this from Liu. He may be innocent. Or he may not.

No. I think every company which wants to protect confidential info from dispatching outside should stipulate the requirement of obtaining prior authoritative approval. Info relating to defense which has impacts on national security should double up their restrictions, internal checking and warnings to staff of the consequences.

Liu is most likely a US citizen and he did pass the background check

 

[shuttler]

Actually, that is even worse. For that will immediately flag you as desperately trying to pass off as being something you are not. Sorry, pal, but not all Chinese are world class actors. But by all means, I encourage ALL Chinese foreign nationals to take your advice, someone who probably never served in the military, worked on defense related projects, and who never been to the US.

we dont run the discriminatory hollywood nor we have the oscar!

Yes, I do.

There is no easy way to get you off the hook of your $1.3 trillion debt and growing.
And no easy way to get you a credit card!

 

[chauism]

You seriously are not suggesting going to war against China over this, are you?

By this logic, France and Israel should've been at war long time ago.

 

[Raphael]

^gambit doesn't really have the US interests at heart, he's a vietnamese refugee who wants to use the US as a pawn to settle an old score with china. he's the kind of fifth column infiltrator that the US govt. should truly be worried about.

 

[gambit]

No. I think every company which wants to protect confidential info from dispatching outside should stipulate the requirement of obtaining prior authoritative approval. Info relating to defense which has impacts on national security should double up their restrictions, internal checking and warnings to staff of the consequences.

Liu is most likely a US citizen and he did pass the background check

Looks like you have no experience in working for a company that have vital trade secrets. It does not matter if the company's work have anything defense related or not. To Microsoft and Nintendo, their set top game boxes are as important as AVIC's whatever to the Chinese government. ALL of them would have appropriate warning in place at the moment of employment. Like I said, you are desperately trying to disassociate the espionage aspect of this from Liu.