Separate FBI Raids Net 4 Alleged Spies

The FBI arrested a Defense Department employee and three others today on charges of spying for China, the Washington Post reports. The Virginia-based  DoD weapons analyst and two accomplices in New Orleans were coincidentally busted on the same day as an ex-Boeing engineer in Southern California, Justice Department officials in Alexandria, Va., and Los Angeles said.

The Virginia case primarily involves US arms sales to China and Taiwan; the three defendants face conspiracy charges. In the second case, the ex-Boeing engineer, 72, is up on charges of stealing trade secrets, mostly relating to the space program and including info about the space shuttle. The investigations “demonstrate that foreign spying remains a serious threat in the post-Cold War world,'' said a prosecutor. (More espionage stories.)