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Retired AF officer on trial in China spy case

A convicted spy who sold U.S. military secrets to China told jurors Monday how he recruited a retired Air Force officer into divulging classified information on U.S.-China military relations and other sensitive topics over the span of a decade.

James W. Fondren Jr., who retired from the Air Force as a lieutenant colonel in 1996 and later worked at the Pentagon as a civilian, went on trial in U.S. District Court on espionage-related charges, including aiding and abetting a foreign agent.

Fondren allegedly funneled classified military information to Tai Shen Kuo, a New Orleans furniture salesman and naturalized U.S. citizen who turned out to be a spy for the People’s Republic of China.

Specifically, prosecutors charge that Fondren wrote “opinion papers” for Kuo that were often thinly veiled regurgitations of classified military reports. Kuo paid Fondren $800 to $1,500 for each of these reports, which Kuo relayed to his handler in China, said prosecutor W. Neil Hammerstrom Jr.

Between 1998 and 2007, Fondren prepared roughly 30 such reports for Kuo.

Kuo pleaded guilty to espionage last year and was sentenced to more than 15 years in prison. He is the chief witness at Fondren’s trial and is hoping that his cooperation with prosecutors will earn him a reduced sentence.

In opening statements Monday, Fondren’s attorney, Asa Hutchinson, disputed the notion that the “opinion papers” contained any classified information. He said Fondren knew what information was classified and what could be made publicly available, and carefully observed that line in what he disclosed to Kuo.

Kuo’s testimony, however, and e-mails written by Fondren indicate that Fondren knew the information would be relayed to the Chinese government and that it was indeed classified.