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Man in U.S. Army Reserves Accused of Being Illegal Agent for China

Ji Chaoqun was arrested after allegedly providing information on potential recruits to a Chinese intelligence officer.

A 27-year-old Chinese citizen has been arrested for allegedly acting as an illegal agent for China within the United States, the Justice Department announced Tuesday. Federal prosecutors accused Ji Chaoqun, 27, of working for a “high-level intelligence officer” from a provincial arm of China’s Ministry of State Security while he was studying engineering and serving in the U.S. Army Reserves. Ji allegedly provided “information on eight individuals for possible recruitment.” “The individuals included Chinese nationals who were working as engineers and scientists in the United States, some of whom were U.S. defense contractors,” the press release states. Ji was admitted to the U.S. in 2013 to study electrical engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago and went on to serve in the Reserves, where he worked to recruit “certain legal aliens whose skills are considered vital” to U.S. national interests. Ji was arrested in Chicago and faces up to 10 years in prison.