US charges 2 Chinese nationals with spying on Navy personnel and bases

“The individuals charged were acting on behalf of a hostile foreign intelligence service part of the Chinese Communist Party’s broader effort to infiltrate and undermine our institutions,” FBI Director Kash Patel told Fox News. He added, “We disrupted those efforts and sent a clear message, the United States will not tolerate espionage on American soil.”

According to the criminal complaint filed in federal court, Lai began working with the MSS in 2021 and later recruited Chen. In January 2022, they both travelled to Guangzhou, China, and allegedly arranged a “dead drop” leaving $10,000 in a backpack in a day-use locker in Livermore, California.

The DOJ says the men continued working for the MSS after this operation. In 2022 and 2023, they visited a Navy base in Washington State and a recruitment office in California.

At the recruitment centre in San Gabriel, Chen reportedly photographed a bulletin board listing Navy recruits, including names and hometowns. Many of those listed had written that their hometown was “China.” The DOJ claims these photos were sent to an MSS contact in China.

Chen is also accused of contacting a US Navy service member on social media. He later toured the USS Abraham Lincoln in San Diego with the help of this individual. Chen is said to have passed information about the employee to Chinese officials.

Between April 2024 and March 2025, Chen is believed to have visited Guangzhou multiple times to meet with MSS officers. The DOJ says he was given instructions on how to talk to potential recruits, including what the MSS could pay them and how to avoid detection.

Lai, meanwhile, told US authorities he was in Houston for business. But surveillance later showed him travelling between Texas and California in May 2025, well beyond the two-week stay he had declared.

Both men are charged with acting as agents of a foreign government without notifying the US attorney general  a federal offence. If found guilty, they each face up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000.

(With inputs from Reuters and Fox News)