The Taiwanese-American charged by the US with providing China with secret information on US arms sales to Taiwan, Kuo Tai-sheng (郭台生), was denied bail and ordered to remain in custody by a federal court in a Virginia suburb of Washington on Friday.
Kuo was arrested on Monday by FBI agents along with a US Defense Department weapons analyst and a Chinese-born woman as part of an alleged two-year long effort to transfer to China detailed information on secret and sensitive US military sales to Taiwan.
Finding that there was "no clear and convincing evidence" that Kuo's communications could be monitored 24 hours a day to prevent him from transmitting US military secrets that were "in his head" to foreign countries, Magistrate Judge Anderson in the US Eastern District of Virginia in Arlington District Court denied Kuo bail and ordered him to remain in custody, at least for the time being.
Kuo's appearance came a day after US defense official Gregg Bergersen appeared in the same courtroom and was ordered to be released from custody after posting bail of US$100,000. During his bail Bergersen will be required to wear an ankle bracelet electronic monitoring device to prevent him from fleeing.
Anderson rejected arguments from Kuo's attorney, Alex Bourelly, that Kuo should be freed since there was no threat that he would flee. As evidence, he said that Kuo's bank account contains only US$150.
To counter that, a US Justice Department prosecutor said that, as of last March, Kuo's bank account contained US$150,000, money which he could us to flee to another country.
The prosecution argued that "Kuo still has national defense information in his head that could be communicated to" foreign countries.
He said that this "put the US military in jeopardy and other forces that communicate with the US military."
While Bourelly argued that Kuo has "no information in his head that could be used" against the US and that Kuo poses a "de minimus risk" against the US, the judge rejected his arguments.
Kuo waived his right to further preliminary hearings and it was not clear what the next step would be. To be tried, Kuo must be indicted by a grand jury, but neither the prosecution nor the defense attorneys would speculate on what the next steps in the case may be.
The third defendant in the case, a Chinese woman Kang Yuxin (康玉新), who is alleged to have been the intermediary between Kuo and a Chinese official known only as "PRC official A," is believed to still be in the New Orleans area and was expected to be transferred to the Washington area for prosecution.
Kuo and Kang are named in one case in which both are charged with a conspiracy to deliver material defense information to a foreign government, charges that have maximum life imprisonment terms.
Bergersen is named in a separate case and is charged with providing US military secrets to a person unauthorized to receive it, a charge that carries only a 10 year maximum prison term.
Bergersen, Kuo and Kang were arrested on Monday and charged in an alleged scheme that began in January 2006 to reveal US secrets on weapons sales to Taiwan and communicate them to China.
One target of their activities, an FBI affidavit said, were essential information and communications technology for an air defense program started by Taiwan in 2003 called the Po Sheng, or "Broad Victory."
The technology, which the US agreed to share with Taiwan, involved so-called C4ISR, which is crucial to any modern military operation.
Another target was the latest annual plans by the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency.
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