U.S. Navy sailor based in Japan charged with espionage

The U.S. has charged a Navy sailor based in Japan with espionage for allegedly providing classified material to a foreign government.

Bryce Pedicini, a chief petty officer fire controlman, is accused of passing documents to an employee of a foreign government at least seven times between Nov. 2022 and May 2023, according to a charge sheet obtained by NBC News.

Pedecini is “suspected of mishandling classified documents and information,” U.S. Pacific Fleet spokesperson Commander Arlo Abrahamson said in a statement. “The incident remains under investigation and legal proceedings continue,” he said.

It is unclear which government Pedicini is accused of colluding with.

Pedicini was assigned to the guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins and delivered multiple documents to an employee of a foreign government relating to “national defense,” according to the charge sheet filed by the Navy. 

The exact nature of the documents is unknown but Pedicini is also accused of smuggling photos of a computer screen designed for classified information to a foreign official while he was in Yokosuka, Japan last May.

Pedicini had “lawful access to information relating to the national defense of the United States,” read the charge sheet, which “could be used to the injury of the United States and to the advantage of a foreign nation.” 

The Navy also accuses him of “failing to report a foreign contact,” and for taking a personal electronic device into a “secure room.”

The sailor had joined the Navy in 2009 and had served multiple naval ships and received awards throughout his career. Since being charged in May, Pedicini has been under pre-trial confinement and was set to face a court martial this week, according to the charge sheet.

Earlier this year, another sailor, 26-year-old Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao, was sentenced to 27 months in prison for accepting thousands of dollars in bribes from a Chinese intelligence officer in exchange for providing photos of U.S. military information.

Zhao, who worked at a naval base in California, pleaded guilty for sending his Chinese handler plans for U.S. military exercises in the Indo-Pacific region, including blueprints for a radar system on U.S military’s base in Okinawa, Japan.

Last year, Jinchao Wei, a 22-year-old soldier aboard the San Diego-based USS Essex was arrested for espionage over sending training manuals for military exercises and photos of the ships he served on.

The U.S has accused China of carrying out extensive cyber attacks and an espionage campaign, which it refutes.