A civilian defense contractor accused of giving military secrets to a Chinese girlfriend half his age will be entering a guilty plea, his attorney said Tuesday.
Benjamin Bishop was expected to plead guilty in federal court on Thursday to one count of transmitting national defense information to a person not entitled to receive it and one count of unlawfully retaining national defense documents and plans.
Bishop, 60, was arrested last March at the headquarters for the U.S. Pacific Command, where he worked.
A document for the plea agreement filed Tuesday said Bishop emailed his girlfriend classified information on joint training and planning sessions between the U.S. and South Korea.
It said Bishop had classified documents at his Hawaii home, including one titled "U.S. Department of Defense China Strategy," another on U.S. force posture in Asia and the Pacific and a U.S. Pacific Command joint intelligence operations center special report.
An FBI affidavit last year alleged the then-59-year-old gave his 27-year-old girlfriend classified information about war plans, nuclear weapons, missile defenses and other topics.
Bervar has said the two were in love and that the case was about love, not espionage.
Bishop has been in federal detention in Honolulu for the majority of time since his March 2013 arrest.