Three U.S. Army personnel stand accused of betraying the United States through theft and bribery, according to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel.
In a social media post on Thursday Patel said the FBI worked with interagency partners led by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to arrest the suspects for alleged theft of government property and a bribery scheme.
“These individuals have been charged with stealing America’s defense intelligence capabilities and empowering adversaries like China in betrayal of our country. They will now face American justice,” he wrote:
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Public Affairs on Thursday detailed information about the three individuals and the charges against them.
“Jian Zhao, and Li Tian, active-duty U.S. Army soldiers stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, along with Ruoyu Duan, a former U.S. Army soldier, were arrested today following indictments by federal grand juries in the District of Oregon and the Western District of Washington,” the agency said.
“Tian and Duan were charged in the District of Oregon for conspiring to commit bribery and theft of government property. Zhao was charged in the Western District of Washington for conspiring to obtain and transmit national defense information to an individual not authorized to receive it, and also for bribery and theft of government property,” it continued.
In her statement on the case, Bondi warned, “The defendants arrested today are accused of betraying our country, actively working to weaken America’s defense capabilities and empowering our adversaries in China. They will face swift, severe, and comprehensive justice.”
In early January, outgoing FBI Director Christopher Wray said China had penetrated America’s water treatment plants, electric grid, and other civilian infrastructure, Breitbart News reported.
He said, “There’s another part of the Chinese cyber threat that I think has not gotten the attention publicly that it, I think, desperately deserves. And that is Chinese government’s pre-positioning on American civilian critical infrastructure. To lie in wait on those networks to be in a position to wreak havoc and can inflict real-world harm at a time and place of their choosing.”
Following his confirmation to lead the FBI in February, Patel said there would not be a “two-tier system of justice” but only a “singular system of justice for all Americans,” per Breitbart News. He added there will also be accountability within the FBI and outside of it. He noted the agency’s national security mission was extremely important.
“Anyone that wishes to do harm to our way of life and our citizens, here or abroad, will face the full wrath of the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” he said.
“And if you seek to hide in any corner of this country, or any corner of this planet, we will put on the world’s largest manhunt and we will find you and we will decide your end state, not you,” Patel stated. “We will uphold the Constitution; we will uphold ourselves to the Constitution.”