SALT LAKE CITY — A Syracuse man is being held in a maximum security federal jail on suspicion of spying for the Chinese.
In a news release, the Justice Department says Ron Rockwell Hansen, 58, sold intelligence information and export-controlled encryption software to Chinese agents for $800,000.
Hansen even wrote his own obituary calling himself “one of the most successful U.S. intelligence officers” ever.
The FBI says Hansen planned to fake his own death, go to Canada with his wife and then fly to China to live out their lives.
He had a military career after his tenure with the Defense Intelligence Agency, but the FBI says Hansen had failed business ventures and mounting debts. He faces life in prison if convicted.