Former U.S. defense intelligence officer accused of spying for China

FBI building with American flags.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

The Justice Department announced Monday that a former U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency officer was arrested Saturday for allegedly attempting to spy on the United States for China.

Ron Rockwell Hansen, 58, was taken into custody by the FBI while at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. He speaks fluent Mandarin and Russian and had top secret clearance for several years, serving as a case officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency from 2000 to 2006, while he was on active military duty; he later remained in that line of work as a civilian employee and contractor, Reuters reports.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.