Lt. Cmdr. Edward Lin, the U.S. naval officer accused of spying for Taiwan, and possibly China, will be arraigned on the charges in Norfolk, Va. on Tuesday— a move which marks the start of his court martial proceedings.
He is charged with espionage and mishandling classified documents and adultery with a prostitute. His defense team insists he is a victim of entrapment by the FBI and that the information was dealing with was not classified.They also argue that he was ambushed when he was arrested and never read his rights.
Lin's unit oversaw several Navy spy planes and, as such, he was in a position to glean information about Navy intelligence gathering through its use its sea-going aircraft. The intelligence officials say he passed on was classified at the "Secret" level, one step below "Top Secret," which covers the military's most closely guarded information.