Former U.S. Army Soldier Pleads Guilty To Gathering And Transmitting National Defense Information (Photo) - 09/16/26
PORTLAND, Ore.—A Hillsboro, Oregon, man pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to gather and transmit national defense information.
Ruoyu Duan, Age 41, pleaded guilty to a superseding information charging conspiracy to gather and transmit national defense information, announced U.S. Attorney Scott E. Bradford for the District of Oregon.
According to court documents, between November 2021 and March 2025, within the District of Oregon and elsewhere, Duan conspired with others to surreptitiously gather sensitive military information related to the United States Army’s operational capabilities, including computer equipment, training materials, intelligence reports, and technical manuals. Duan paid his co-conspirators, active-duty U.S. Army soldiers, and others, to gather information and equipment. Specifically, they obtained information related to U.S. military weapon systems, such as U.S. Army combat vehicles, including the Bradley, Stryker, and HIMARS platforms, and transferred that information to people in China.
Duan served as an U.S. Army soldier from 2013 – 2017 and was trained in the handling of sensitive and classified military information.
On March 5, 2025, a federal grand jury in Portland returned an indictment charging Duan and Li Tian, an Active-Duty U.S. Army Officer, with conspiring to commit bribery and theft of government property.
The FBI arrested Duan in Oregon on March 6, 2025.
Defendant Duan faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and 3 years of supervised release. He will be sentenced on December 10, 2026, before U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut.
The case was investigated by the FBI Portland and Seattle Field Offices and U.S. Army Counterintelligence Command, with assistance from the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Seattle Field Office, CBP Office of Professional Responsibility, United States Postal Inspection Service, and Naval Criminal Investigative Service. The case is being prosecuted by Geoffrey A. Barrow and Katherine A. Rykken, Assistant U.S. Attorneys for the District of Oregon, and Christopher Magnani and Yifei Zheng, Trial Attorneys for the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.
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