Firm Pleads Guilty to Sending Tech to China
Scientist Affiliated With Military Air Drone Project Still Faces Charges
By JASON RYAN
Aug. 20, 2008—
A Tennessee company has pleaded guilty to sending defense materials for unmanned aerial vehicles to China.
The firm, Atmospheric Glow Technologies (AGT), pleaded guilty to 10 counts of illegally exporting plasma and aerodynamic technology to an individual in China.
In 2004, AGT and the University of Tennessee began work on the drone program for the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. Under the contract, due to the sensitive nature of the program, the parties allegedly agreed that no foreign nationals would work on the project that involved plasma actuator technology to increase the performance of a plane's aerodynamics.
The case also involves a former University of Tennessee professor, Reece Roth, who was indicted in May 2008 for allegedly exporting sensitive military data to China.
Roth's 18-count indictment also alleged conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Air Force, wire fraud and violating the Arms Export Control Act.
His trial is expected to begin next week in Knoxville, Tenn.
According to court records, Roth traveled to China in May 2006 and provided highly technical information on the unmanned aerial vehicle project to Chinese academics.
Court documents reviewed in the case allege that Roth "arranged to meet with PRC [People's Republic of China] academic officials and lecture at several locations on the topic of 'subsonic plasma aerodynamics for flight control of aircraft.'"
ABC News contacted Roth's defense attorney, Tom Dundon, who said his client denies the charges against him and has pleaded not guilty.
In April, an AGT physicist, Daniel Max Sherman, pleaded guilty to conspiracy for violating the Arms Export Control Act.
Court records previously filed by the government in the case noted, "The technical data had been created through work on a research and development contract with the U.S. Air Force, in which work the defendant participated, that was referred to as the 'Phase II Munitions Contract.'"
According to Sherman's plea agreement, from 2005 to 2006, AGT provided Roth's graduate student, Xin Dai, a Chinese national, with weekly and quarterly reports about the program.
Roth also faces trial for charges of allegedly allowing an Iranian graduate student named Sirous Nourgostar to work on the unmanned aerial vehicle project, which would be in violation of the Arms Export Control Act.