Ex-Soldier Guilty in China Info Case
PHOTO CAPTION: A court exhibit released in connection with a broader Army military-information case shows Sgt. Jian Zhao photographing restricted documents, left, and hard drives marked SECRET and UNCLASSIFIED seized during the investigation, right. Former Army soldier Ruoyu Duan pleaded guilty Sept. 16, 2026, to conspiracy to gather and transmit national defense information. Image credit: U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
A former U.S. Army soldier has pleaded guilty in a federal case involving sensitive military information that prosecutors say was gathered from active-duty soldiers and transferred to people in China.
Ruoyu Duan, 41, of Hillsboro, Oregon, pleaded guilty Sept. 16 to conspiracy to gather and transmit national defense information, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon.
Federal prosecutors say that between November 2021 and March 2025, Duan conspired with others to secretly gather sensitive information related to the U.S. Army’s operational capabilities.
The material included computer equipment, training materials, intelligence reports and technical manuals.
According to court documents cited by the Justice Department, Duan paid co-conspirators, including active-duty U.S. Army soldiers, to obtain military information and equipment.
The information included material related to U.S. weapon systems and combat vehicles, including the Bradley, Stryker and HIMARS platforms.
Prosecutors say that information was then transferred to people in China.
Duan previously served in the U.S. Army from 2013 to 2017 and had been trained in the handling of sensitive and classified military information.
The guilty plea follows a federal investigation that became public in March 2025, when Duan and two active-duty Army soldiers stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord were arrested in related cases.
At the time, prosecutors accused Duan and Army officer Li Tian of participating in a scheme to gather sensitive Army information in exchange for money.
A separate case against Army Sgt. Jian Zhao involved allegations that he obtained classified hard drives and sensitive military information, including material related to HIMARS and U.S. military readiness in a potential conflict with China.
Duan is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 10.
He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.
The case was investigated by the FBI and U.S. Army Counterintelligence Command with assistance from several other federal agencies.
The Sept. 16 guilty plea marks a new development in a case that began years earlier and involved sensitive information about some of the Army’s most recognizable combat platforms being obtained from U.S. military personnel and transferred overseas.
The core facts above are directly supported by DOJ’s Sept. 16 guilty-plea announcement.
(Source: OAF Nation)
