Accused spy praised U.S. at ceremony in Honolulu
NAVY PHOTO / 2008
Then-Lt. Edward Lin speaks about the benefits of becoming an American citizen and thanks fellow service members at a naturalization ceremony in Honolulu.
A Navy flight officer who spoke in Honolulu in 2008 about his journey to become an American citizen has been charged with espionage for allegedly passing secrets to China and patronizing a prostitute, according to a U.S. Naval Institute news story.
Lt. Cmdr. Edward C. Lin, who is originally from Taiwan and speaks fluent Mandarin, was most recently assigned to the Patrol and Reconnaissance Group in Norfolk, Va., the news outlet said.
A 2008 Navy story said Lin, then a lieutenant, spoke at a naturalization ceremony at U.S. District Court in Honolulu about how he was 14 when his family left Taiwan.
“I always dreamt about coming to America, the ‘promised land,’” the officer, who had become a naturalized citizen nine years earlier, was quoted as saying at the ceremony. “I grew up believing that all roads in America lead to Disneyland.”
Lin shared his personal story with 80 individuals becoming American citizens. At the time, Lin was on the U.S. Pacific Fleet staff at Pearl Harbor.
A U.S. official confirmed that the accused officer is the same one highlighted by the Navy in 2008, the Washington Post reported.
The U.S. Naval Institute said Lin also had been a department head with the Special Projects Patrol Squadron 2 “Wizards” at Kaneohe Bay, a highly secretive group that flies specially modified spy planes and has been known to change aircraft paint schemes and identifying numbers to blend in with other Navy planes.
The U.S. Pacific Fleet on Sunday referred all questions about Lin to the Naval Criminal Investigative Serv-ice in Washington.
A heavily redacted charge sheet from the Navy accuses the unnamed officer of two specifications of espionage for communicating secret information relating to national defense to a representative of a foreign government. The U.S. Naval Institute said that country is China.
Also filed were three specifications of attempted espionage for trying to pass secret information.
The officer additionally was charged with patronizing a prostitute and adultery, five specifications of communicating defense information that could be used to injure the United States, and three specifications of making a false official statement relating to foreign travel.
A preliminary Article 32 judicial hearing was held Friday for Lin, who is being held in a brig in Chesapeake, Va., and the charge sheet was released afterward but did not disclose his name, the Washington Post said.
Lin listed in the 2008 Navy news story diverse motivations for wanting to become an American citizen.
“Whether it is economical, political, social or religious reasons,” Lin said, “I do know that by becoming a citizen of the United States of America, you did it to better your life and the life of your family.”
A translator had to help him register for school, including filling out the required paperwork, the Navy story said. Lin’s Chinese name had 20 letters in it, and the woman at the school’s front desk was unable to pronounce it. She asked him for his American name.
“I was barely able to spell ‘ABC.’ The only name that I knew back then as an American name was Eddie,” Lin said. “Eddie was the name of my mother’s dog. … I was very fortunate that my mother did not name her dog Fluffy.”
He also thanked the nine U.S. military members being naturalized for safeguarding their new nation, “her people and the Constitution, which guarantees our way of life.”
25 responses to “Accused spy praised U.S. at ceremony in Honolulu”
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One mole uncovered.
shibai artists are a dime a dozen
Indicating possibly that the Communist Party of China is actively running an espionage operation in Hawaii. Thank you Navy CID.
If guilty…he is a disgrace to the country and to the uniform.
A disgrace just like Hillary.
Except this guy doesn’t have the big money to get himself out of it.
lol!
I hope his punishment is by the Gallo’s.
And Hillary too. How about a double hanging?
I wouldn’t wish Gallo on anyone. As bad as Ripple.
you should try Boones Farm.
How about “ThunderBird” (are they still in business?)
Cellodad, I once defended you when you were criticized by another reader when one of your posts contained an obvious error. The point I tried to convey to him was that as anonymous visitors here, we can’t possibly know the background or circumstance of anyone choosing to join these discussions. Perhaps the person committing a mistake was rushed or distracted when he hit the “Post Comment” button. Maybe he didn’t complete junior high school or maybe English isn’t even his native tongue. Or, possibly it’s somebody with an attention deficit disorder or other learning disability. We also have, apparently, quite a number of folks who celebrated their 75th birthdays quite awhile ago. Personally, I resist the urge to mock or highlight someone else’s poor grammar, bad spelling, capitalization or punctuation errors unless I’m totally at a loss as to what he’s getting at. It’s a courtesy I’m not always as successful in applying as I’d like, but I do try. Anyway, thanks for bearing with me this far. Continue to have fun.
Ernest or Julio?
Greystone…………….what I kept in stock at Dung’s Store for the old Kakaako winos……..use to chew out their guts and was cheap……….
While I pray that this sailor did not do the accused Treason, If he did then severest punishment should be rendered. on the “patronizing a prostitute and adultery” oh come on is he also accused of of untrimmed toenails. Thousands of Navy and other military Enlisted and Officers, have bought female favors.
Except that if one is an officer in a sensitive position, being compromised by visiting a house of ill-repute or prostitute easily speaks volume of his personal character. Had the opportunity but wanted more. His avarice done him in like many others. Like the bribery scandals of high ranking officers in charge naval ship movements in the South China Sea area.
I will agree with you on your comments. Yes in a Very sensitive position. I used to be in a Patrol Squadron (#28) involved in intelligence gathering.
It’s likely the prostitution is closely related. Perhaps he was provided services in exchange for information.
I don’t worry too much about radical muslims but I do worry about the Chinese. They are ALWAYS just outside Hawaii waters “listening” to everything going on here.
As we are over there. Spying has been a normal procedure since … the caveman days.
Yep, sounds like the Navy I know. FUBAR.
Gosh I have not heard that term (FUBAR) for Decades. and “snafu”!
The facts may never be fully known but it could be that the ChiCom’s used a woman to entrap him into a situation where he became an agent for the ChiComs.
That is what happens when you let the small head do the thinking. Very sad situation but he should have known better. Now he will have to pay the piper.
Even if acquitted of all charges, his Navy career and his usefulness as a poster boy for successfully naturalized Americans are pretty much flushed down the toilet. I’m sure he still has a future in the Silicon Valley tech sector though.