Chinese citizen sentenced in military data-theft case The case illustrates what the FBI calls a growing "insider threat" that hasn't drawn as much attention as Chinese cyber operations. But U.S. authorities warned that this type of espionage can be just as damaging to national security and American business. "The reason this technology is on the State Department munitions list, and controlled . . . is it can navigate, control and position missiles, aircraft, drones, bombs, lasers and targets very accurately," said David Smukowski, president of Sensors in Motion, the small company in Bellvue, Wash., developing the technology with L-3. While it saves lives, it can also be very strategic. It is rocket science. Smukowski estimated that the loss of this tiny piece of technology alone could ultimately cost the U.S. military hundreds of millions of dollars. In the past four years, nearly 100 individual or corporate defendants have been charged by the Justice Department with stealing trade secrets or classified information for Chinese entities or exporting military or dual-use technology to China, according to court records. A number of other cases involving China remain under seal, according to the Justice Department. The targets of all this theft are some of the biggest and best-known U.S. defense contractors and private companies, with household names such as Northrop Grumman, Boeing, General Dynamics, Ford, DuPont and Dow Chemical. "America is a global leader in the development of military technologies and, as such, it has become a leading target for the theft and illicit transfer of such technologies," said John Carlin, acting assistant attorney general for national security. These schemes represent a threat to our national security. The intelligence community has assessed China to be among the most aggressive collectors of sensitive U.S. information and technologies and our criminal prosecutions across the country reflect that assessment. Earlier this month, a Chinese citizen who worked as a contractor at NASA's Langley Research Center was arrested at Dulles Airport and charged with making false statements to federal agents about the laptop and SIM card he was carrying. According to an FBI affidavit, the suspect, Bo Jiang, 31, had taken a NASA laptop that contained sensitive information on a previous trip to China. Following the arrest, Maj. Gen. Charles F. Bolden Jr., the NASA administrator, told a House committee that he was limiting access to NASA for the citizens of several countries, including China, pending a full security review.