China Is Relentless

Pentagon Official Charged in Leak of Classified Info to China

Excerpt: WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A Pentagon official has been charged with leaking classified information to a business client who was taking orders from China's government, the Justice Department said Wednesday.

James Wilbur Fondren Jr., 62, is accused of "conspiracy to communicate classified information to an agent of a foreign government" from November 2004 until February 2008, department officials said in a written statement.

Fondren, who began working as a civilian deputy director for the Washington liaison office for U.S. Pacific Command in 2001 and has been on administrative leave with pay since mid-February of last year, turned himself in to federal agents Wednesday morning.

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS:

• Official in Pacific Command office accused of conspiracy to pass classified info.
• James W. Fondren Jr., 62, has been on administrative leave since February 2008.
• Authorities believe Fondren was part of espionage conspiracy from 2004 to 2008.
• Affidavit: Fondren put classified information in "opinion papers" that he sold.

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Comment:  One would hope that the combined counterespionage efforts of the United States against the PRC would reap more than this.  A small fish, indeed.  Let's just hope that our successes are so profound and our penetrations of the Ministry for State Security so deep that today's Justice Department announcement was strictly for PR.  Fondren is charged with "conspiracy to communicate classified information to an agent of a foreign government."  By that standard, Rep. Jane Harman should call her office and have legal counsel standing by.  

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