A Navy officer is facing potential espionage charges for allegedly providing secret information to Taiwan and China. Lt. Cmdr. Edward Lin, a Taiwan-born naturalized American citizen who worked as a specialist on U.S. spy planes, stands accused of committing two acts of espionage and of three instances of attempting to commit espionage, according to a heavily redacted charge sheet of a preliminary “Article 32” hearing Friday in Norfolk, Virginia. Lin has been held in pre-trial confinement for the last eight months, according to USNI News.
The Navy has not officially acknowledged the identity of the 39-year-old Navy officer and the preliminary military justice proceedings have been kept secret. U.S. officials told the New York Times that Navy investigators believe Lin provided secret information to his Chinese girlfriend although they did not say how it was transmitted. Lin, a fluent Mandarin speaker, came to the U.S. with his family at age 14.
Lin’s role in the Navy put him in a position to have knowledge of U.S. intelligence gathering. “Lin was a flight officer assigned to the Special Projects Patrol Squadron, with experience managing the collection of electronic signals from the EP3-E Aries II signals intelligence aircraft, officials said,” according to Reuters. “Information about how the U.S. Navy carries out such signals collection operations could be highly valuable to a foreign government.”
Navy officials told the Daily Beast Lin’s behavior aroused suspicion from colleagues and superiors.
U.S. defense officials first became suspicious of Lin when the Navy commander took personal leave and lied about where he said he was going, which under military law is considered absence without official leave, a defense official told The Daily Beast. Navy officials suspected that during one personal trip, Lin met with a Taiwanese national and provided that person information. Navy officials then asked questions of Lin’s colleagues, many of whom said they found Lin’s behavior suspicious, the official said. Lin is also charged with adultery and procuring prostitutes. One defense official said that it’s possible Lin was compensated for his alleged spying with sexual favors.
“[The] Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a grand jury, was held for Commander Lin on Friday, and a decision about whether to formally charge the officer and bring his case before a full court-martial is expected by next week,” officials told the Times.
