NORFOLK
A Navy intelligence specialist pleaded guilty Thursday to four counts of attempted espionage and seven counts of mishandling classified information, admitting that he accepted $11,500 from a man he believed to be a Chinese agent.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Bryan Minkyu Martin, 22, had faced 15 charges in all and the prospect of life in prison. In exchange for his guilty plea, the remaining charges will be dropped and he will receive a reduced sentence.
Martin was arrested Dec. 1 in North Carolina.
At the time he was at Joint Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg training to deploy to Afghanistan, though he was assigned to the Expeditionary Combat Readiness Center at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek in Virginia Beach.
He is accused of accepting money from an undercover FBI agent in exchange for dozens of pages of documents that were classified either as secret or top secret over the course of four meetings late last year. The material described intelligence assessments and U.S. operations, including those in Afghanistan and Iraq.
According to charging documents, Martin had reason to believe that the information "would be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nation." He told the judge that he chose the Chinese because he believed they would pay him the most money.
Authorities have said no classified information actually was delivered to anyone not authorized to see it.
Martin enlisted in the Navy in 2006 and received a top-secret-level security clearance the following year. Before reporting to Fort Bragg last September, he was stationed at military facilities in Syracuse, N.Y.; Jackson, S.C.; San Diego; and Washington.
He is being held at the Norfolk Naval Station brig. Testimony is continuing and a judge is expected to sentence him Friday.
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