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NCIS Warns Sailors, Marines of Foreign Intelligence Gathering Threat
By Darwin Lam, Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Office of Strategic Communications
QUANTICO, Va. – NCIS is warning service members across the fleet about the threat of foreign intelligence information gathering efforts.
Foreign intelligence services regularly attempt to contact Department of the Navy and Marine Corps personnel online and solicit sensitive information through social media and mobile applications.
Targeting attempts to solicit sensitive information can be independent of your ethnic background, language fluency, and other factors. Members of the military, former members of the military, and Department of Defense civilian employees risk increased exposure of their unique expertise or access to sensitive information for a foreign intelligence service to target.
Notable recent cases of transmitting sensitive information to foreign intelligence services include U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer Bryce Pedicini and Petty Officer 2nd Class Wenheng Zhao.
Pedicini was found guilty at a general court-martial of UCMJ Article 103a (Attempted Espionage), Article 92 (Failure to Obey a Lawful Order), and Article 80 (Attempted Violation of a Lawful General Order). An NCIS investigation revealed that Pedicini delivered classified and national defense information to a representative of a foreign government as early as November 2022 and had reason to believe it would be harmful to the United States or advantageous to the foreign nation. Pedicini engaged with the foreign government representative under the guise of writing research papers, a tactic increasingly used by foreign adversaries to obtain classified and unclassified national defense information.
Zhao pleaded guilty in October 2023 to one count of conspiring with the intelligence officer and one count of receiving a bribe. He was sentenced to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay a $5,500 fine for transmitting sensitive U.S. military information to an intelligence officer from the People’s Republic of China in exchange for bribery payments.
NCIS encourages service members and personnel to complete their annual Counterintelligence Awareness and Reporting Course requirements to learn about the potential threats and collection methods used by Foreign Intelligence Entities (FIE), Potential Espionage Indicators (PIE), warning signs of terrorism, and reporting responsibilities.
Anyone with knowledge or suspicion of threat indicators should report that information to your supervisor, security manager, or to NCIS. Tips may be anonymously reported to NCIS using the NCIS Tips app or at www.ncis.navy.mil.
NCIS Office of Special Projects is responsible for the conduct of the Department of the Navy’s most complex counterintelligence and espionage investigations when known or suspected contact with an adversary intelligence service is alleged. OSP has primacy over all espionage investigations worldwide, often working jointly with other U.S. and foreign intelligence community and law enforcement partners.
As the primary investigative and counterintelligence arm of the Department of the Navy, NCIS conducts complex counterintelligence investigations and national security matters involving the Navy and Marine Corps. NCIS regularly educates the DON workforce on the threat posed by foreign contacts requesting information via social media and through requests for research papers, which can quickly lead to providing national defense information. NCIS encourages DON service members or civilians to report such requests immediately.
| Date Taken: | 02.21.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 02.24.2025 07:11 |
| Story ID: | 491343 |
| Location: | QUANTICO, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 817 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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