The United States is again in a Cold War, this time with China. Our enemies are doing all that they can to steal away the U.S.’s advantage. Those guilty of aiding and abetting U.S.’s enemies don’t deserve leniency.
On Feb. 25, the Department of Justice announced that it had arrested a former Air Force officer, Gerald Eddie Brown Jr., and charged him with “providing and conspiring to provide defense services” to China, in violation of the Arms Export Control Act.
Brown had been an Air Force pilot for more than two decades before leaving active service in 1996 as a major. He took an oath to protect the U.S. from “all enemies, foreign and domestic.” Now he stands accused of breaking that oath and betraying his country in the worst manner possible by training America’s foremost foe.
According to the complaint, “since at least in or around August 2023, Brown willfully conspired with foreign nationals and U.S. persons to provide combat aircraft training to pilots in the Chinese Air Force, known as the People’s Liberation Army Air Force.”
Brown seems to have known what he was doing. The DOJ stated that he even sent a resume to win the position, listing his “objective” as an “Instructor Fighter Pilot.” The complaint further alleges that after arriving in China in December 2023, Brown spent hours answering questions about the U.S. Air Force. Brown reportedly stayed in China, training Chinese military pilots, until returning to the U.S. in February 2026.
If found guilty, Brown should face the full brunt of the law. Few crimes are more heinous. Cicero famously said that a “nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within.” This is doubly true when one considers the stakes.
China presents the greatest national security challenge that the U.S. has ever faced, with economic and military power that dwarfs previous opponents, including Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and the Soviet Union. China is engaged in the largest military buildup in modern history. It is actively and unashamedly preparing for war against the U.S. Brown, a citizen and former officer in the U.S. armed forces, is alleged to have intentionally aided China in its objective. He stands accused of teaching Chinese military members how to kill Americans, including, conceivably, his former brothers in arms.
Yet, vengeance isn’t the best argument for harsh sentences toward those guilty of treason. Deterrence is.
Too often, those found guilty of aiding the U.S.’s enemies have been treated with undue leniency. This has emboldened our adversaries. Brown is a case in point.
The pilot allegedly used a coconspirator to negotiate with Stephen Su Bin, a Chinese national who had already been convicted in 2016 of conspiring to hack into the computer networks of major U.S. defense contractors and steal sensitive military and export-control data for China. Su Bin pled guilty but only received four years for his crimes. He was released in October 2017 with time served.
Brown isn’t alone. In their recent book, The Great Heist, former Defense Intelligence Agency officials David Shedd and Andrew Badger profile numerous incidents of U.S. citizens and others who provide sensitive information and training to our adversaries. The information costs American companies billions of dollars and actively endangers our country’s security.
DEMOCRATS SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEIR IMMIGRATION POLICIES
But as Shedd and Badger note: “Many cases involving CCP agents often result in slap-on-the-wrist plea bargains.” While this allows the DOJ to close lengthy cases quickly, it erodes deterrence and gives China a “cavalier attitude” with predictable results. “There’s a strong argument to be made, the former DIA officials observe, that a quick, toothless sentence emboldens bad actors,” they observe.
The U.S. has a qualitative advantage over China. The U.S. often has superior training, innovation, and equipment. This could make all the difference in deterring and, if need be, winning a conflict with Beijing. Those found guilty of eroding that advantage deserve a heavy dose of justice. The stakes are too great and the crimes too onerous for leniency.
