U.S. engineer contacted China before stealing missile tracking tech, DOJ says

• Federal prosecutors charged an engineer who worked at a Los Angeles-area company with stealing trade secret technologies developed for use by the U.S. government in space to detect nuclear missile launches and to track ballistic and hypersonic missiles.
• The DOJ said that technology allegedly stolen by 57-year-old Chenguang Gong would be "dangerous to U.S. national security if obtained by international actors."
• Los Angeles U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said that Gong previously sought to provide the People's Republic of China with information that would help the nation's military.

Federal prosecutors charged an engineer who worked at a Los Angeles-area company with stealing trade secret technologies developed for use by the U.S. government in space to detect nuclear missile launches and track ballistic and hypersonic missiles, the Department of Justice said Wednesday.

The DOJ said the technology allegedly stolen by 57-year-old Chenguang Gong would be "dangerous to U.S. national security if obtained by international actors."

Gong, who lives in San Jose, California, is a native of China who became an American citizen in 2011, prosecutors said. He was arrested Tuesday and is due to appear at a detention hearing later Wednesday.

Los Angeles U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said Gong previously sought to provide the People's Republic of China with information that would help the nation's military.

Gong, from 2014 through 2022, submitted multiple applications for so-called "talent programs" run by the Chinese government while "being employed by several major U.S. technology companies and one of the world's largest defense contractors," a criminal complaint filed in Los Angeles federal court alleges.

The Chinese Talent Program