Former CIA Officer Pleads Guilty To Spying For China

An ex-CIA officer pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to spying for China, the third separate espionage case in the past year linking a former U.S. intelligence officer to the Asian nation.

Jerry Chun Shing Lee, 54, entered the guilty plea to the most serious of the three charges he was facing.

"I conspired to gather and send secret information to the PRC (People's Republic of China)," Lee said when asked by Judge T.S. Ellis to describe his actions.

In exchange for the guilty plea, prosecutors in the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., agreed to drop two lesser charges of retaining secret information after he left the CIA.

The plea agreement calls for a minimum sentence of about 21 years. But Judge Ellis emphasized that this was only a recommendation and he was free to impose the sentence he saw fit when Lee is sentenced on Aug. 23. The charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.

Lee worked as a CIA officer in China and elsewhere from 1994 to 2007. After resigning from the agency, he settled in Hong Kong and became a private businessman.