China syndromeChinese spy network steals U.S. UAV secrets

A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Tennessee returned an eighteen-count indictment charging J. Reece Roth, a professor emeritus at the University of Tennessee, and Atmospheric Glow Technologies (AGT), a Knoxville-based technology company, with conspiring to defraud the U.S. Air Force and disclose restricted U.S. military data about unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to foreign nationals without first obtaining the required U.S. government license or approval. The indictment was announced yesterday by James Dedrick, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee, and Patrick Rowan, acting assistant attorney general for national security. Roth, age 70, currently resides in Knoxville, Tennessee. He is anticipated to make his initial court appearance next week before a U.S. magistrate Judge. Roth is charged in the indictment with one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Air Force and violate the Arms Export Control Act; fifteen counts of violating the Arms Export Control Act, and one count of wire fraud for defrauding the University of Tennessee. AGT is charged in the indictment with one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Air Force and violate the Arms Export Control Act and ten counts of violating the Arms Export Control Act.

According to the indictment, between January 2004 and May 2006, Roth and AGT engaged in a conspiracy to transmit export-controlled technical data related to a restricted U.S. Air Force contract to develop plasma actuators for a munitions-type UAV to one of more foreign nationals, including a citizen from the People’s Republic of China. The Chinese national was a graduate research assistant at the University of Tennessee. The University of Tennessee was victimized by the conspirators and cooperated throughout with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) led federal investigation. Further, according to the indictment, Roth departed for the People’s Republic of China in May 2006 and carried multiple documents, which were subject to export controls, containing technical data controlled by the International Trafficking in Arms Regulations and related to the above U.S. Air Force contract. The indictment also alleges that, in May 2006, Roth directed the wire transmission to an individual in China of a document containing restricted technical data controlled by the International Trafficking in Arms Regulations and related to the above contract. Violations of the Arms Export Control Act carry a maximum possible penalty of ten years imprisonment and a $1,000,000 fine. Wire fraud carries a maximum possible penalty of 20 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine, while conspiracy carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment and a 250,000 fine.