U.S.: Contractor gave nuke, other national security secrets to Chinese girlfriend

U.S. Attorney Florence Nakakuni speaks at a news conference in Honolulu on Monday, March 18, 2013 to announce authorities have charged a U.S. Pacific Command defense contractor with giving defense secrets to a Chinese woman he was romantically involved with. / AP Photo/Audrey McAvoy

HONOLULU A defense contractor who works in intelligence at the U.S. Pacific Command has been charged with giving national security secrets to a 27-year-old Chinese woman with whom he was romantically involved, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Monday.

Benjamin Pierce Bishop, 59, is accused of sending the woman an email last May with information on existing war plans, nuclear weapons and U.S. relations with international partners, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Honolulu.

The complaint alleges Bishop told the woman over the telephone in September about the deployment of U.S. strategic nuclear systems and about the ability of the U.S. to detect other nations' low- and medium-range ballistic missiles.

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CBS News correspondent Bob Orr reports that it's not clear from the court document if the woman passed the secrets on to anyone else.

The complaint says Bishop hid his relationship with the woman from his superiors. He also is accused of improperly keeping classified information at his home - an unsecured and unauthorized location, Orr reports.

Bishop originally met the woman at a conference in Hawaii on international military defense issues, the complaint says. It doesn't specify when the conference was held, but it alleges the two began an intimate, romantic relationship in June 2011.

Authorities arrested Bishop at U.S. Pacific Command headquarters at Camp H.M. Smith in Hawaii on Friday.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard Puglisi conditionally appointed Bishop an attorney Monday after hearing arguments that his finances weren't sufficient to cover the high costs of defending himself against an espionage charge.

Bishop's court-appointed attorney, Birney Bervar, said Bishop is a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve.

"Col. Bishop has served this country for 29 years. He would never do anything to harm the United States," Bervar told reporters after Bishop was formally presented with the charges.

Bishop, a resident of the Honolulu suburb of Kapolei, is scheduled to appear in court Friday for a hearing on whether he will remain in detention during the case. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 1.

[howardtts]

I do not think he gave any kind of information, that was worth anything. Everything that Bishop told the woman is publicly known information. He sent her and email. No one with half a brain would send a secret in an email. A telephone call, everyone knows the phones are not secure and neither Email is like hanging a sign outside your house and every one can read it.
I know everyone of those secrets he passed and where did I learn it over the internet and in movies. These are well know secrets. Nuclear weapons are the weapons of the ignorant. Nuclear energy is hell on earth. The big money that runs the government is nothing more, then rich, arrogant men that are getting richer off the deaths of the innocent populations of the earth. The US goes to your country and turns it into a war zone and it is all a lie. If you defend your country inside your own borders your a patriot. When you cross the oceans of this world and kill others your a murderer not a patriot.
I read an article the other day that the US Drone strikes had kill a lot of people, but, only 2 percent of them was enemy combatants. I would like one government person to point out how Iraq or Afghanistan has improve my life in the US. Vietnam war, for what, so our military industrial complex could make money. Hey Obama your a murderer like Bush and Chaney before you. I think we should give your cowardly ***** up to world court and have you made accountable for your decisions.
This guy Bishop is low level military, what could he know, nothing. You noticed they do not know anything about, the woman and if she passed it on. That is because, it never happened.

[berlinfoto-2009]

Our Politicians and our corporate leaders, or our capitalists, gave our manufacturing jobs to the Chinese. This is allowing the Chinese to win the economic war.
Exactly what is the difference?
The authoritarians or the establishment had so much hatred for the Labor Unions, that were only slightly left, and this was the reason for the hatred, that they gave the union jobs to the communists. who are as left as they can be, they are so left they are basically slaves.
The Authoritarians or the establishment are now going to make all Americans Workers, Slaves so they can compete with the Chinese.

[corbolavirus]

LOL! Busted. It's another army tail chaser like Petraeus.

[ichibandan]

To paraphrase the Music Man:

We got trouble , right here in River City. With a capitol T that rhymes with P and it stands for Pu#%y!

[cbs_bull]

Where is the Chinese woman now?

[realtimecoffee]

Probably being reassigned to another honeypot operation in Bejing.

[mecury69]

true realtime...true

[endpcnow]

How does one contractor get so much access to so many kinds of highly classified information???????? Wouldn't technical weapons information and war plans be completely separate entities, compartmentalized, away from each other???

[hypnotoad72]

Well, since having compartmentalized staff is creating too many "unskilled workers for the new normal" nowadays, you tell us...


And since having dedicated staff is too costly nowadays, you tell us...

Loyalty is earned. Not given. Contractors are not known for having the dedication and care. Regular employees, if they see dishonesty, are liable to leave as well. And there comes a time when a problem is systemic - blanketly blaming the working class for everything from every angle ends up being myopic and parochial as well...

[matt6052]

She's not very pretty for a spy... oops, that's the prosecutor.

[mjlewis6]

And while you guys are at it about death sentences and treason, be sure to dig up Richard Nixon for interferring with peace accords and making the Viet Nam war last into his election. We could have had peace in 1968, and not 1973. South Viet Nam fell in 1975 after we had left. Oh, Nixon resigned in disgrace in 1974 over the Watergate Scandal, the one about burglarizing Democratic Headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in 1972? The infamous tapes that were strategically erased? Remember LYING a$$ Nixon. THOUSANDS of US troops killed in VIET NAM so he could play war? Seems we have a plethora of Republican Presidents who like to play at that game: Reagan, Bush Sr., Bush Jr.,

And as for spies, they usually get LIFE in prison. Period. Michael Pollard is an Israeli spy and he is still locked up, too. ;)

[ThePriceofFreedom]

Leaders have been playing war games since war was first invented. So it only about which side provides a better living opportunity for the people. Being a Vietnamese Refugee, it pains me to read your comments. Vietnam, South Korea, West Germany, Greece, Cuba, Latin America, Afghanistan where all buffer zones for the two superior power nations that USSR/China vs USA/NATO during the "cold war" games. USA learned the wrong lessons in Korea and thought to apply the same actions in Vietnam. Vietnam didn't have a McArthur, and television/lobbying became mainstream towards 1970s. Vietnam current state is much worst than current state of Communist China, but a better than N. Korea, thanks to USA complete withdrawal of weapons/support in the 1970s. Because South VN was lost you have Pho, nail salons, any many hard working Viet Americans professionals working in America. Because USA held it ground in South Korea you now have Samsung, Huyndai, Kia...(S. Vietnam economy and infrastructure was way ahead of S. Korea during 1950-60s). How can you have fair peace agreements when you give the communist side 3 parties vs 2 parties (USSR/China, NLF, N. Vietnam vs USA, S. Vietnam?)

[realtimecoffee]

Of course if you really hated Vietnam you would have mentioned LBJ, the driving force behind 58,000 American deaths on that worthless war. But you are just playing high school politics, so meh.

[avalonconservative]

He commited treason. Sentance: Death.

[hypnotoad72]

What else qualifies as "treason"? And what if we took your definition and found examples that would doubtlessly surprise you?

[wizardlady]

Treason is a heavy charge, but apparently if it is committed by our POTUS and friends it is forgiven. Compared to the damage done by the Bush/Cheney era to our whole economic system, I seriously doubt this man did any harm. There is probably an untold story behind this charge, and will never come out.

[hypnotoad72]

Bush was voted out in 2008... All Obama has done is be bipartisan, cater, and compromise to the GOP because he has no other choice due to their majority. Not even a "sympathy veto", and because he has no choice he even had to seek out Romney's advisers to craft "Obamacare" with. Don't believe me, FOX, Forbes, and many other mainstream outlets all reported on those issues. Some people choose not to read them, which makes FOX even more ironic as a source...

[enlightenu]

What that was was more negotiation on Turkey based missile defense shield.