Accused Chinese spy charged with downloading porn, not NASA secrets

Accused Chinese spy charged with downloading porn, not NASA secrets Source: http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/3/4296096/bo-jiang-accused-chinese-spy-arrested-for-porn-not-espionage Bo Jiang, the Chinese national accused of spying on NASA, was formally charged in a Virginia court this week — not for conducting espionage, but for downloading porn and pirated movies to his computer. A former research contractor at NASA's Langely Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, Jiang was originally indicted on March 20th, when federal investigators arrested him just before he departed on a one-way ticket from Washington, DC to Beijing. At the time, authorities accused Jiang of sharing sensitive information with the Chinese government — he had a NASA-issued laptop with him at the time of his in-flight arrest — but as Bloomberg Businessweek reports, it now appears that their fears were unfounded. On Thursday, Jiang plead guilty to misdemeanor charges for violating NASA's computer security rules. Authorities say they uncovered sexually explicit materials and illegally downloaded movies on the computer seized at Dulles International Airport, but found no sensitive or proprietary information. Jiang had initially been charged of providing false statements about the contents of his computer, but US Assistant Attorney General Gordon Kromberg said those accusations have since been resolved. "DR. JIANG IS RELIEVED THIS ORDEAL IS OVER." "None of the computer media that Jiang attempted to bring to the PRC [People's Republic of China] on March 16, 2013, contained classified information, export controlled information, or NASA proprietary information," reads a statement of facts filed the case, which was heard in a federal court in Newport News, Virginia. "Dr. Jiang is relieved this ordeal is over," Fernando Groene, Jiang's lawyer, said in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek. "Although he was accused in arena of public opinion and in the halls of Congress, once due process was given he was cleared of any and all allegations that he was a spy." Jiang's initial arrest was spearheaded by Representative Frank Wolf (R-VA), who earlier this year said that NASA whistleblowers were concerned about potential leaks from foreign nationals. In a subsequent hearing at the House Appropriations subcommittee, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden identified Jiang as one of 281 foreign born employees accused of posing security threats. The 31-year-old researcher lost his job at NASA in December, after returning from a month-long trip to China. "I REMAIN CONCERNED." In a statement released this week, Wolf said he still has concerns over why Jiang was allowed to leave the country with a NASA-issued computer. "I remain concerned that neither the prosecutors nor NASA have addressed the original question of why a NASA laptop was inappropriately provided to a restricted foreign national associated with ‘an entity of concern’ and why he was allowed to take the laptop and all of its information back to China last December," the congressman said in an e-mail to Bloomberg Businessweek.