A former Engineer for aviation giant Boeing is being accused of being part of a years-long scheme of stealing classified information regarding the space shuttle program of the United States – and then sending the information to China. The former engineer, Dongfan “Greg” Chung, is a seventy-two year old who once worked for the company Rockwell International, before Boeing came in 1996 and took over the firm. Chung then worked for Boeing until 2006. He was arrested recently in his home in Southern California.

Chung is being indicted on over ten counts of conspiracy, lying to investigators, obstruction of justice, and economic espionage. If found guilty, Chung faces a sentence of over a hundred years in prison. Chung is a native of China, but he has already become a naturalized citizen of the U.S. He once held clearance for top security level work. His case comes in conjunction with that of an analyst for the U.S. Department of Defense, who was recently indicted for sharing government secrets with two accomplices; the secrets eventually found their way to the Chinese government.

Government officials are very alarmed with the rise in espionage cases, and see them as threats to national security, as well as to the U.S.’ economic position. To date, the Justice Department has already at least six cases that involve efforts by China to acquire certain kinds of technology through espionage, including technology to enable night-vision equipment to operate on the battlefield, as well as smart missiles. For Chung, this meant passing on information to the Chinese government on transport planes, rockets, and space shuttles via another engineer based in China. His involvement in espionage dates to the late 1970’s, when China contacted him to do work as compatriot.

Chung’s case is only one of a few espionage cases in which private investigators are involved. In this case, many different private investigators may be called in to help resolve a case, especially since it has been decades since Chung started helping the Chinese government. Some private investigators may be tasked to trace documents and letters from the Chinese government in order to completely determine who it was in the Chinese government that was responsible for recruiting Chung. They may need to see the extent of Chung’s work as a spy, and they may need to look for more witnesses to support their case.

Private investigators have a lot of work that they could possibly do in order to improve their work on a case. They may be tasked to go after witnesses or observe certain people in order to add to the strength of a case. Their work may be as exciting as going after people, or as tedious as days’ worth of stakeouts.

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