U.S.-China citizen from San Jose pleads guilty to stealing missile defense secrets

A former engineer at a Southern California defense contractor pleaded guilty to stealing highly sensitive trade secrets tied to American national security, including technologies designed to detect nuclear missile launches and track hypersonic threats, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

Chenguang Gong, 59, a dual U.S.-China citizen from San Jose, admitted in a federal court in Los Angeles to transferring more than 3,600 files from his employer, a Los Angeles-area research and development company, to personal storage devices in 2023. He pleaded guilty to one count of theft of trade secrets and remains free on $1.75 million bond.