San Jose man headed to prison for stealing missile defense secrets

"Chenguang Gong, a dual citizen of the United States and China, pleaded guilty on July 21 to one count of theft of trade secrets. Gong transferred more than 3,600 files from the Los Angeles-area research-and-development company he worked at briefly to personal storage devices, prosecutors said. The stolen files included blueprints for sensors designed to track and detect nuclear, ballistic and hypersonic missiles, as well as blueprints for sensors designed to enable U.S. fighter jets to detect and evade heat-seeking missiles, prosecutors said."

"The Los Angeles-area company identified only as the victim company hired Gong in January 2023 to design, develop and verify infrared sensors. From March 2023 to his termination on April 26, 2023, he transferred thousands of files from his work laptop to three personal storage devices, including more than 1,800 files after he had accepted a job at one of the company's main competitors, prosecutors said. Some of the information was worth hundreds of millions of dollars, prosecutors said."

"Prosecutors said Gong also applied to talent programs administered by the People's Republic of China between 2014 and 2018. The country allegedly uses the programs to identify individuals who have specialized skills and abilities in advanced sciences and technologies to benefit China and its military, according to prosecutors. Gong traveled to China to seek talent program funding to develop analog-to-digital converters, prosecutors said."

A 59-year-old San Jose man, a dual U.S.-China citizen, pleaded guilty to theft of trade secrets and was sentenced to nearly four years in federal prison. He transferred more than 3,600 files from a Los Angeles-area research-and-development employer to personal storage devices while employed there briefly. The stolen materials included blueprints for sensors to track nuclear, ballistic and hypersonic missiles and sensors to help U.S. fighter jets detect and evade heat-seeking missiles. He moved over 1,800 files after accepting work with a competitor. Some data were valued at hundreds of millions of dollars. He applied to PRC talent programs and traveled to China seeking funding for analog-to-digital converter development.

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