Stills from surveillance video that show Sgt. Jian Zhao, a battery supply officer at Washington’s Joint Base Lewis-McChord, taking photos.
Courtesy of the US Department of Justice
Three current and former U.S. Army soldiers in Oregon and Washington face federal charges they sold top-secret national security information to buyers based in China.
Sgt. Jian Zhao, a battery supply officer, and 1st Lt. Li Tian, a health services administrator, were serving as active duty U.S. Army soldiers at Washington’s Joint Base Lewis-McChord. Ruoyu Duan is a former U.S. Army soldier living in Hillsboro. All three were arrested Thursday, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Zhao, who was indicted by a federal grand jury in Tacoma, faces charges he conspired to obtain and transmit information “relating to the national defense of the United States to individuals not entitled to receive it.”
Ultimately, Zhao sold 20 classified hard drives and other government property to people operating on behalf of China, according to federal prosecutors. He was paid at least $15,000. He also faces charges for theft of government property and bribery of a public official.
Duan and Tian were charged by a federal grand jury in Oregon with theft of government property and conspiring to bribe a public official. The Oregon indictment also identifies a “Conspirator 1,” as a “battery supply sergeant” stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
After his arrest Thursday, Tian did an interview with FBI agents who confronted him with the charges he faces. Court documents filed Friday state that he “minimized his conduct, but admitted, ‘I am 100% guilty.’”
Photos of an encryption-capable computer. According to the indictment, Sgt. Jian Zhao allegedly "actively engaged with Co-Conspirator 1 from July to December 2024 to sell an encrypted military computer, for which Zhao was paid $1,000."
Courtesy of the US Department of Justice
According to the 35-page indictment filed in Oregon, Tian and Conspirator 1 “collected and transmitted sensitive U.S. military information in exchange for money provided by Duan, who received money from the [People’s Republic of China].” The conspiracy stretched from at least Nov. 28, 2021, to Dec. 19, 2024, prosecutors allege.
The case was investigated by the FBI in Portland and Seattle along with U.S. Army Counterintelligence Command.
“Ruoyu Duan and Li Tian betrayed the oath of military service they had taken,” Douglas Olson, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Portland office said in the release. “Their actions caused significant risk and damage to US National Security and violated the oath they took as military members to protect the American people.”
Chinese intelligence services use what are known as “co-optee” or a “cut-out” — such as a diplomat or academic — who works as a go-between for the source and the intelligence officer, “thereby increasing operation security,” the indictment states. They’re often tasked with targeting and handling an asset with access to open-source or classified information China “could use to its advantage.”
Duan exchanged money from accounts in China and then paid Tian, Conspirator 1, “and other security-clearance holders and active-duty members of the United States Army,” the indictment states.
Court documents also outline Zhao’s efforts to sell hard drives and other military information.
“Your buyer needs intelligence, right?” Zhao asked a foreign national purportedly residing in Changchun, China who federal prosecutors identified in court documents filed in Washington as “Co-Conspirator 1.”
A photo of classified hard drives that Sgt. Jian Zhao allegedly attempted to sell. This photo was included in the indictment announced March 6, 2025.
Courtesy of the US Department of Justice
Zhao also sold information about the Army’s long-range artillery system known as HIMARS, High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System, for $6,500.
“Very sensitive document,” Zhao told co-conspirator 1, according to the filing. “Super difficult to get.”
On Oct. 27, 2024, still images from surveillance video at the base showed Zhao communicating with co-conspirator 1 while he was photographing PowerPoint presentations at his desk, according to federal prosecutors.
Zhao also copied a presentation on the strategic operation of rockets and missiles, as well as a “presentation about a Pacific, simulation-driven, bilateral and multinational command post exercise.” In November, Zhao “took photos of a sensitive document about a military exercise simulating conflict with the [People’s Republic of China] and took videos of his government computer screen,” federal prosecutors wrote.
In court documents arguing for Zhao’s detention filed Thursday, federal prosecutors also stated “evidence in the case indicates” Zhao maintains a warehouse investigators have not been able to locate.