FighterSweep Fans, if these allegations are true, this is not good news for us. Edward Lin, a U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander and Naval Flight Officer (NFO) aboard one of the most advanced SIGINT (SIGnals INTelligence) aircraft in the inventory, has been accused of passing secrets to China.
A U.S. naval flight officer (NFO) with an extensive signals intelligence background was accused by the service of passing secrets to China, USNI News has learned.
Lt. Cmdr. Edward C. Lin, who served on some of the Navy’s most sensitive intelligence gathering aircraft, faces several counts of espionage and other charges outlined during a Friday Article 32 hearing in Norfolk, Va.
Lin, originally a Taiwanese national before his family moved to he U.S., had a career as a signals intelligence specialist on the Navy’s Lockheed Martin E-P3E Aries II reconnaissance aircraft, several sources confirmed to USNI News.
Several sources familiar with the case told USNI News the country to which Lin passed secrets was China, however, few other details are known about the case given much of the evidence is classified.
Photo of then-Lieutenant Edward Lin, taken in 2008. (Photo courtesy of USNI News)
The redacted charging documents say Lin allegedly transported secret information out of the country without permission and then lied about his whereabouts when he returned to duty. The charging documents allege he successfully committed espionage twice and attempted espionage on three other occasions.
n addition to the accusations related to transmitting secrets to a foreign power, Lin was also accused of violating military law by patronizing prostitutes and committing adultery.
Lin is currently assigned to commander, Patrol and Reconnaissance Group in Norfolk and has been held in pre-trial confinement at the Naval Consolidated Brig Chesapeake, Va. and has been for the last eight months, sources told USNI News.