In a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Oregon, the Department of Justice revealed that Tian and Duan were indicted for conspiracy to commit bribery and theft of government property while Zhao was also charged with conspiracy to obtain and transmit national defense information to an individual not authorized to receive it.
Attorney General Pamela J. Bondi revealed the implicated foreign power in a statement writing, “The defendants arrested today are accused of betraying our country, actively working to weaken America’s defense capabilities and empowering our adversaries in China.” Bondi added, “They will face swift, severe, and comprehensive justice.”
According to the indictment of Zhao and Tian, investigators allege that in or around July 2024 and until their arrest date, Zhao, a Sergeant in Army Supply “conspired with others known and unknown to the grand jury to obtain and transmit national defense information to individuals based in China.” He also allegedly committed bribery and stole U.S. government property.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Thursday the arrest of Jian Zhao and Li Tian, both active-duty soldiers with the U.S. Army stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington, along with Ruoyu Duan, a former U.S. Army soldier, following indictments by federal grand… pic.twitter.com/pxKPooIdMy
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) March 7, 2025
The damning charges outlined in the indictments indicated that Zhao is accused of “conspiracy to collect and transmit several classified hard drives, including hard drives marked ‘SECRET’ and ‘TOP SECRET’, negotiating with individuals based in China for their sale, and agreeing to send the classified hard drives to the individuals in China.”
In return for his sale of the classified hard drives Zhao was allegedly paid the paltry sum of $10,000 and is also alleged to have “conspired to sell an encryption capable computer that was stolen from the U.S. Government, and sensitive U.S. military documents and information, including information related to the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).”
Most troublingly, he was allegedly tasked with providing “information related to U.S. military readiness in the event of a conflict with the People’s Republic of China.”
In total Zhao is alleged to have broken his oath to the United States for payments totaling just $15,000.
Duan and Tian, both indicted in Oregon are alleged to have “conspired with each other to surreptitiously gather sensitive military information related to the United States Army’s operational capabilities, including technical manuals and other sensitive information, and that Tian transmitted this information to Duan in return for money, in violation of his official duties as an active-duty U.S. Army officer.”
Foreign operatives engaged Tian to obtain information related to the Bradley and Stryker U.S. Army fighting vehicles and send it to Duan.
Douglas A. Olson, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Portland Field Office said in a statement, "As former and current members of the U.S. Army, Ruoyu Duan and Li Tian betrayed the oath of military service they had taken. Their actions caused significant risk and damage to U.S. National Security and violated the oath they took as military members to protect the American people."
“While bribery and corruption have thrived under China’s Communist Party, this behavior cannot be tolerated with our service members who are entrusted with sensitive military information, including national defense information,” FBI Director Kash Patel remarked.
“The FBI and our partners will continue to work to uncover attempts by those in China to steal sensitive U.S. military information and hold all accountable who play a role in betraying our national defense. The FBI would like to thank U.S. Army Counterintelligence for their close partnership during this investigation.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">BREAKING: I can now report that today the FBI, along with our interagency partners led by <a href="https://twitter.com/AGPamBondi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AGPamBondi</a>, arrested two active duty U.S. Army soldiers and one former U.S. Army soldier for theft of government property and a bribery scheme.<br><br>These individuals have been charged with…</p>— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) <a href="https://twitter.com/FBIDirectorKash/status/1897838771611017601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 7, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Brig. Gen. Rhett R. Cox, the Commanding General of Army Counterintelligence Command told the press, “These arrests underscore the persistent and increasing foreign intelligence threat facing our Army and nation. Along with the Department of Justice and FBI, Army Counterintelligence Command will continue to work tirelessly to hold those accountable who irresponsibly and selfishly abandon the Army values and choose personal gain over duty to our nation. We remind all members of the Army team to increase their vigilance and protect our Army by reporting suspicious activity.”
