The following has made for quite the headline, as a retired elite US Air Force pilot is in very hot water and faces US intelligence and military questioning: “A former US Air Force fighter pilot with more than two decades of experience with nuclear delivery systems and aircraft, including advanced F-35 stealth jets, has been arrested and charged with conspiring to help the Chinese military,” according to CNN.
65-year old Gerald Eddie Brown Jr. was arrested in Jeffersonville, Indiana, on Wednesday after one or more lengthy recent trips to China where it’s believed he not only briefed officials from China’s defense establishment, but provided training for Chinese PLA military pilots.
US interrogators are said to be most alarmed at Brown’s vast experience with America’s most advanced stealth jet – the Lockheed Martin F-35, as well as nuclear delivery systems and tactics.
“Providing US military training to our adversaries represents a significant threat to national security,” Lee Russ, executive director of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations Office of Special Project, said in an official statement after the retired Air Force pilot’s arrest. He’s specifically accused of violating the Arms Export Control Act
Brown retired as a major all the way back in 1996, having served 24 years of active duty Air Force, but he has since been a top US Air Force adviser and trainer of US combat pilots. As Fox reviews:
During his career, he commanded units responsible for nuclear weapons delivery systems, led combat missions and worked as a fighter pilot and simulator instructor on aircraft including the F-4, F-15, F-16 and A-10. After leaving the military, Brown worked as a commercial cargo pilot and later as a contract simulator instructor training U.S. pilots to fly the A-10 and the F-35 Lightning II.
The US Attorney’s statement alleged that while in China “Brown answered questions for three hours about the U.S. Air Force on his first day in the PRC and then, on his second day, prepared and presented a brief about himself for the PLAAF,” the statement said. The rest of the time he trained Chinese pilots.”
FBI New York Assistant Director in Charge James Barnacle followed with: “Brown’s alleged betrayal exposed sensitive military tactics, threatening the security of our nation, our armed forces, and our allies.”
Apparently Brown wasn’t quiet at all about his activities in China, and which also comes at a moment of military tensions around Taiwan and in the South China Sea:
According to the complaint, Brown began negotiating a contract “in or around” August 2023 to train Chinese military pilots, working through a co-conspirator who dealt with Stephen Su Bin, a Chinese national previously convicted in the U.S. of conspiring to hack into the computer networks of major American defense contractors and steal sensitive military data.
Prosecutors say Brown made clear in those discussions that he intended to train Chinese pilots in combat aircraft operations. In a résumé, he listed his objective as “Instructor Fighter Pilot” and later wrote that, upon arriving in China, “Now…. I have the chance to fly and instruct fighter pilots again!”
A former American pilot has in recent years been prosecuted by the DOJ under similar circumstances related to instructing PLA pilots: “Former US Marine Corps pilot Daniel Duggan was charged in 2017 of violating the Arms Export Control Act, specifically for allegedly helping Chinese pilots learn aircraft carrier operations,” notes CNN.
It’s understandable that the US government gets extremely nervous about active or retired officials with nuclear secrets going abroad to rival nations, but there’s some lingering questions of consistency. For example, what about Blackwater founder Erik Prince, whose Chinese military ties are so well known as to be featured in his permanent Wikipedia page?
Prince co-founded a firm called Frontier Services Group and until April 13, 2021 he was also chairman. Frontier Services Group is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Frontier Services Group is backed by China’s state-owned CITIC Group and Hong Kong-based investor Johnson Chun Shun Ko [zh], with the Chinese government listed as the largest investor. Prince advised and supported Chinese mining and construction firms in Africa.
In May 2017, FSG acquired a 25% stake in a Chinese private security training school called the International Security Defense College, located in Beijing. The college provides training in counterterrorism, high-risk operations, and overseas security for military, law enforcement, and private personnel. FSG has since overseen the school’s program of training “overseas security specialists”.
There’s a good chance that if Brown, on the other hand, was close personal friends with various Trump admin officials, the US government would be looking the other way.
Also, the same scenario could have played out with a more ‘friendly’ country and the investigators probably would not have come knocking. But military tech secrets and China remains a hot, sensitive issue at this moment.
