A US Defense Department employee was charged Wednesday with conspiracy to provide classified military information to China, Reuters reported. James Fondren, 62, a former airman who worked as a civilian employee at the Pentagon with top-secret clearance, turned himself in to federal authorities. Working under the direction of a Chinese government official, Fondren supplied classified data over a four-year period ending in February 2008. Among other things, he divulged details of a Chinese military official’s visit to the US and a joint US-Chinese naval exercise. The Justice Department said Fondren was duped into thinking he was supplying information to Taiwan military officials. Fondren, who faces a maximum jail sentence of five years, is the fourth member of a Chinese spy ring to be exposed. Tai Shen Kuo, a US citizen born in Taiwan, Gregg Bergersen and Yu Xin Kang have already received jail terms.
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