We got ourselves a wannabe spy on our hands

quote:

---

.. I just walk into someone's embassy saying I got stuff and boom, instant spy?

---

quote:

---

Charles Eccleston was terminated from his job at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2010, according to the Justice Department. Previously, he’d worked at the Energy Department. Three years later, while living in the Philippines, Mr. Eccleston walked into a foreign embassy and offered to hand over what he said was classified information, according to an indictment unsealed Friday. That drew the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Undercover FBI agents posing as representatives of the foreign country—China, people familiar with the matter said—then met with Mr. Eccleston, the indictment said. He allegedly offered to email innocuous-looking files to Energy Department employees that, once opened, would infect their computers with malicious software and let him gain access to secrets, according to the Justice Department. Then he allegedly would sell that information to the purported Chinese spies.

In January, Mr. Eccleston sent 80 emails to Energy Department employees with a link to “Conference Details and Registration.” Mr. Eccleston thought clicking on the link would lead to the installation of malicious software on Energy Department computers, letting the Chinese extract “sensitive and confidential information,” according to the indictment and people familiar with the matter. But the link, provided by an undercover FBI agent, was harmless.

Philippine authorities arrested Mr. Eccleston, a 61-year-old American citizen, in Manila in March. They deported him to the U.S. and he made an initial appearance in federal court in Washington on Friday.

---

quote:

---

Charles Eccleston was terminated from his job at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission

---

quote:

---

Mr. Eccleston walked into a foreign embassy and offered to hand over what he said was classified information

---

quote:

---

"whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States."

---

quote:

---

They are both pictures of a pair of Chins.

---