Former US intelligence officer is accused of spying for China, arrested on his way to Seattle airport
Ron Rockwell Hansen, who once worked for the US Defence Intelligence Agency, received US$800,000 in suspicious funds and was booked on a China-bound flight when he was seized
A former US Defence Intelligence Agency officer was arrested this weekend by the FBI, charged with trying to give US government secrets to Chinese spies, and taking at least US$800,000 in suspicious funds from China, according to newly unsealed court documents.
Ron Rockwell Hansen of Syracuse, Utah, was arrested Saturday afternoon, capping a four-year FBI investigation that tracked his alleged payments and communications with Chinese intelligence agents.
Officials said he was arrested after a sting operation near the Seattle airport, as he was headed toward a China-bound flight.
Assistant Attorney General John C. Demers said Hansen “allegedly attempted to transmit national defence information to the People’s Republic of China’s intelligence services (PRCIS) and also allegedly received hundreds of thousands of dollars while illegally acting as an agent of China.”
Demers called the conduct described in a criminal complaint against Hansen “a betrayal of our nation’s security and the American people.” Hansen was in federal custody Monday and could not immediately be reached for comment.
