Federal authorities have arrested and charged two Chinese nationals after they allegedly acted as agents of the People’s Republic of China’s government to collect intelligence about U.S. Navy service members and bases as well as recruit military members to carry out tasks for the country’s main foreign intelligence service, the Ministry of State Security (MSS).
The Department of Justice (DOJ) said Chinese national Yuance Chen, who resides in Happy Valley, Oregon, and Liren Lai, who traveled to Houston on a tourist visa in April 2025, were arrested on Friday. Both individuals face charges of overseeing and carrying out various clandestine intelligence tasks in the U.S. on behalf of the Ministry of State Security (MSS).
The DOJ said the government of the PRC conducts intelligence activities against the U.S. using various means, including the MSS, which is involved with collecting intelligence on civilians. The MSS is also responsible for foreign intelligence, counterintelligence and political security.
Along with assisting with the recruitment of potential MSS assets and gathering intel about service members and bases, the two men are accused of facilitating a “dead drop” payment of cash on behalf of the MSS.
“[These] arrests reflect the FBI’s unwavering commitment to protecting our national security and safeguarding the integrity of our military,” FBI Director Kash Patel told Fox News Digital. “The individuals charged were acting on behalf of a hostile foreign intelligence service — part of the Chinese Communist Party’s broader effort to infiltrate and undermine our institutions. Thanks to outstanding coordination with our partners, including NCIS, we disrupted those efforts and sent a clear message: the United States will not tolerate espionage on American soil. Our counterintelligence operations remain focused, vigilant, and relentless.”
According to Fox News, the two men were in Guangzhou, China in January 2022, when they allegedly collaborated to facilitate a dead-drop payment of at least $10,000 on behalf of the MSS. The operation involved working with others in the U.S. to leave a backpack with the cash at a day-use locker in Livermore, California.
The Justice Department said in 2022 and 2023, the two visited a Navy recruitment center in California.
While at the recruitment center, Chen allegedly took photos of a bulletin board that contained the names, programs and hometowns of Navy recruits. The majority of those listed on the board noted that their hometown was “China,” and the photos appeared to be shared to an MSS intelligence officer in China, the DOJ claimed.
The DOJ also alleged that the MSS gave Chen instructions on what to say to potential recruits when it came to payment that could be made by the MSS, preferred Naval job assignments for potential recruits and methods to minimize Chen’s risk of being exposed.
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Chen and Lai have been charged with operating in the U.S. as agents of a foreign government without notifying the U.S. attorney general. If convicted, both men face a fine of up to $250,000 and up to 10 years behind bars.
“Hostile foreign intelligence services like the PRC’s Ministry of State Security dedicate years to recruiting individuals and cultivating them as intelligence assets to do their bidding within the United States,” Assistant Attorney General John Eisenberg of the Justice Department’s National Security Division said. “Under my leadership, the National Security Division will continue to defend our nation and way of life by rooting out and exposing our adversaries’ clandestine spy networks.”
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