A Chinese American living in Northern California pleaded guilty on July 21 to stealing infrared technology used by the U.S. government to detect nuclear missile launches and other sensitive information.

Chenguang Gong, 59, of San Jose, pleaded guilty to one count of theft of trade secrets. He remained free on a $1.75 million bond, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Gong was arrested Feb. 6, 2024. The Department of Justice reported he is a dual citizen of the United States and China, but Gong told The Epoch Times on July 22 that he only has U.S. citizenship.

According to court documents, he admitted to transferring more than 3,600 files from a research and development company in Malibu, Calif., where he worked, to personal flash drives and hard drives.

The theft occurred when Gong worked for HRL Laboratories, a representative confirmed with The Epoch Times last year.

Some of the files transferred included blueprints for sophisticated infrared sensors designed for use in space-based systems to detect nuclear missile launches and ballistic and hypersonic missiles.

Gong also allegedly collected blueprints for sensors designed to enable U.S. military aircraft to detect incoming heat-seeking missiles and take countermeasures, including by jamming the missiles’ infrared tracking ability.

Some of the files were later found on storage devices seized by the FBI from Gong’s temporary residence in Thousand Oaks, a suburb of Los Angeles, in May 2023.

Two hard drives used by Gong were not located at his home, and the whereabouts of the drives remained unknown, according to the FBI.

Gong, who became a U.S. citizen in 2011, was an engineer at the laboratory.

Gong couldn’t comment on his case until he spoke with his attorney, he told The Epoch Times following the U.S. Attorney’s announcement on July 21.

Prosecutors say the U.S. government and others invested tens of millions each year for more than seven years to develop the technology acquired by Gong.

The Department of Justice in Washington on March 10, 2025. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

The research and development center hired Gong in 2023 as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) manager. He was responsible for managing the design, development, and performance of readout integrated circuits used in the company’s infrared sensors, according to court records.

An investigator with the FBI said that Gong transferred the files between March 30, 2023, and April 25, 2023, on 16 different days.

The information gathered by Gong “would be dangerous to U.S. national security if obtained by international actors,” according to court documents.

HRL Laboratories terminated Gong’s employment when they became aware of the suspicious activity.

“When HRL became aware of suspicious activity being conducted by Gong, the company immediately began an investigation, terminated his employment, and notified relevant authorities,” company spokeswoman Pamela Reese told The Epoch Times in 2024.

Many of the files Gong transferred contained proprietary and trade secret information related to the development and design of a readout integrated circuit that allows space-based systems to detect missile launches and track ballistic and hypersonic missiles.

The files also contained technology that allowed aircraft to track incoming threats in low visibility environments, among other trade secrets, according to federal prosecutors.

Gong was listed as one of 558 “young talents“ in the Thousand Talents Plan run by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 2016.

The CCP offers hefty financial incentives—including research, funding, salaries, and housing—through the talent recruitment programs to entice overseas Chinese and foreign experts into working in China’s science and tech sectors.

The talent programs identify individuals outside China who have expert skills, abilities, and knowledge that would help in transforming the country’s economy and its military capabilities, according to an FBI investigator noted in court documents.

China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan, and Burma troops launch rockets from missile systems during the Caucasus-2020 military drills along the Caspian Sea in the Republic of Dagestan in southern Russia on Sept. 23, 2020. (Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images)

According to court documents, Gong allegedly submitted numerous applications to the talent programs between about 2014 and 2022. During that time, he was employed by several major U.S. technology companies and one of the world’s largest defense contractors.

“In his submissions to the Talent Programs, Gong proposed projects that mirrored his work for several of these companies, and repeatedly touted that his proposals would be useful to China’s military and that China did not yet have the technologies he was proposing to develop himself or share with Chinese companies,” according to court statements submitted in February 2024 by an FBI expert.

Prosecutors said Gong traveled to China several times to seek Talent Program funding to develop analog-to-digital converters.

The economic loss from Gong’s conduct exceeds $3.5 million, according to his plea agreement.

U.S. District Judge John F. Walter scheduled Gong’s sentencing for Sept. 29. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.