Benjamin Pierce Bishop, 59, was arrested at his workplace on Friday.
According to the affidavit, between May 2011 through Dec. 2012, Bishop allegedly communicated classified national defense information on multiple occasions to a 27-year-old female citizen of China. The woman currently resides in the U.S. on a visa and does not possess, nor has ever possessed, a U.S. security clearance.
The affidavit states Bishop and the woman met in Hawaii during a conference regarding international military defense issues. Since June 2011, Bishop and the woman have allegedly been involved in a romantic relationship.
According to the criminal complaint, Bishop was authorized to be a courier of secret and top-secret material. He also worked in the Secure Compartment Information Facility.
Despite a Defense Department directive requiring personnel, like Bishop, who maintain a U.S. security clearance to report to the U.S. government any contacts with foreign persons, the affidavit alleges he has affirmatively hidden his relationship with the woman from U.S. government officials.
The affidavit alleges that Bishop communicated information classified at the secret level to the woman on several instances. The information Bishop allegedly passed was related to nuclear weapons, planned deployment of U.S. strategic nuclear systems, information on the ability of the United States to detect low- and medium-range ballistic missiles of foreign governments, and information on the deployment of U.S. early warning radar systems in the Pacific Rim.
The affidavit further alleges that a court-authorized search of Bishop’s residence in November 2012 revealed approximately 12 individual documents each with classification markings at the secret level.
Officials say Bishop’s residence is not an authorized location for the storage of classified information and Bishop was not authorized to remove and retain those documents.
Bishop is charged with one count of willfully communicating national defense information to a person not entitled to receive such information and one count of unlawfully retaining documents related to the national defense.
If convicted, he faces a maximum potential sentence of 20 years in prison.
This case is being investigated by the FBI Honolulu Division and the NCIS Hawaii Field Office in coordination with USPACOM and the U.S. Army.
We’ll have more details on this story on the KHON2 News starting at 5 p.m.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
