American pleads guilty in China spy case

A US citizen was sentenced on Friday to four years in prison for conspiracy to reveal national defense information to Beijing intelligence agents, the Justice Department said.  

Reuters / Jim Young

Glenn Shriver, 28, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, pleaded guilty on 22 October to one count of conspiracy to communicate national defense information to a person not entitled to receive it.

He was sentenced by US District Court Judge Liam O'Grady in Virginia, the department said.

Authorities said Shriver had been in contact with Chinese intelligence officers while he was studying in China in 2004 and that he had sought a US government intelligence or law enforcement job at the request of the agents.

He later lied on a CIA employment questionnaire about the contact and omitted traveling to China.

From 2005 to 2010, according to officials, Shriver attempted to gain employment as a US Foreign Service officer with the Department of State and as a clandestine service officer with the Central Intelligence Agency.

"Attempts to gain access to sensitive information are a serious threat to our national security. We are doing everything in our power to find and punish those who seek to betray our country," said US Attorney Neil MacBride.

Officials said last year that Shriver received more than 70,000 dollars in payments from Chinese intelligence officers and that in December 2009, he received notice to report to Washington for final processing for a job at the CIA.

The sentencing came as Chinese President Hu Jintao was wrapping up a US visit in Chicago, after a meeting with President Barack Obama and political and business leaders in Washington and a lavish state dinner on Wednesday.