SALON

Tuesday, Mar 19, 2013 12:36 PM UTC

Defense contractor leaked nuclear secrets to Chinese lover

Civilian contractor faces one count of communicating national defense information

By

Topics: Defense contractor, China, Nuclear Weapons, U.S. Military,

Defense contractor leaked nuclear secrets to Chinese lover (Credit: Wikimedia)

Federal authorities say a civilian defense contractor who works in intelligence at Pacific Command gave his Chinese girlfriend information on existing war plans and U.S. nuclear weapons.

Benjamin Pierce Bishop, 59, appeared in court Monday to face one count of communicating national defense information to a person not entitled to receive it and one count of unlawfully retaining national defense documents and plans. He was arrested March 15 at Pacific Command headquarters at Camp H.M. Smith in Hawaii.

Bishop gave information to the woman, a 27-year-old Chinese national, after meeting her at a conference on international military defense issues in Hawaii, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Honolulu. Authorities did not say when the conference took place but said she was in the U.S. on a student visa at the time.

The identity and whereabouts of the woman were not released. U.S. Attorney Florence Nakakuni didn’t answer questions at a press briefing Monday.

U.S. authorities say Bishop divulged the information in an email in May, and also in a phone call in September, when he told the woman 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.

Authorities did not say when Bishop met the woman, but alleged they began an intimate, romantic relationship in June 2011. The woman was in the U.S. on a J-1 visa, for people in work- and study-based exchange programs. It was not clear what institution she attended.

It’s also not known which defense contractor employs Bishop.

Bishop is accused of hiding the relationship from the government even though his position and security clearance requires him to report contact with foreign nationals.

Authorities conducting a covert search of Bishop’s home in Kapolei, a Honolulu suburb, in November found 12 individual documents marked “secret” even though he’s not authorized to keep classified papers at home, court documents said.

The woman asked Bishop last month what western countries knew about “the operation of a particular naval asset of People’s Republic of China,” the complaint said, though the topic fell outside Bishop’s regular work assignments. Bishop researched the issued using open source records and was observed collecting and reviewing classified information on the topic, the complaint said.

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

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.

Bart DaSilva, a neighbor of Bishop’s, said the man lived alone and was initially friendly when he moved in about three years ago. DaSilva said Bishop once brought over a woman and a girl he said were his wife and daughter from Thailand.

DaSilva said he never saw Bishop with other visitors.

Bishop increasingly began to keep to himself, DaSilva said. “I kind of felt, ‘What did we do?’” DaSilva said. “It was almost like he switched off.”

No one answered the door Monday at the brown, two-story home, which is in a hilly neighborhood overlooking Pearl Harbor and downtown Honolulu.

Bishop was scheduled to appear in court Friday for a hearing on whether he will remain in detention during the case. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for April 1.

More Associated Press.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 2 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Oklahoma senator: Tornado aid “totally different” from Sandy aid
2624 points2625 points | 1174 comments
vote
Anyone Regret Slashing National Weather Service Budget Now?: With GOP-backed cuts to forecasting agency, experts warn future storms will go undetected and more lives lost
868 points869 points | 418 comments
vote
Oklahoma senator wants to offset tornado aid with other cuts
124 points125 points | 41 comments
vote
Horrifying new trend: Posting rapes to Facebook " In Chicago this weekend, prosecutors announced three teenaged boys will tried as adults for aggravated criminal sexual assault after allegedly raping a 12-year-old girl — and posting a video of the attack on Facebook."
23 points24 points | 13 comments
vote
Recent scandals are Whitewater redux, not Watergate
17 points18 points | 2 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations