Lawyer Claims Ex-US Marine Pilot Detained in Australia Inadvertently Collaborated with Chinese Hacker

A lawyer has stated that a former US Marine pilot, who was arrested in Australia, unintentionally worked with a Chinese hacker. The incident raises questions about the complexities of international cyber-security and the implications of such unintended collaborations.

CNN - A former US Marine pilot, Daniel Duggan, is contesting extradition from Australia over US accusations that he trained Chinese military pilots in aircraft carrier operations. His lawyer claims that Duggan, unaware, collaborated with a Chinese hacker, according to a legal filing. The 55-year-old, who has become an Australian citizen, expressed concerns that Western intelligence's demands for sensitive information jeopardized his family's safety. This legal claim corroborates Reuters' previous reports connecting Duggan to Su Bin, a convicted Chinese defense hacker.

Daniel Duggan refutes accusations that he violated US arms control laws. He has been held in an Australian maximum-security prison since 2022, following his arrest after spending six years working in Beijing. According to Duggan's lawyer, Bernard Collaery, US authorities discovered correspondence with Duggan on electronic devices seized from Su Bin, a Chinese defense hacker. This evidence was highlighted in a March submission to Australian Attorney General Mark Dreyfus, who is set to make a decision on Duggan's extradition following a magistrate's review of the case. The extradition hearing is scheduled to take place this month in a Sydney court, occurring two years after Duggan was apprehended in rural Australia amidst UK warnings against former military pilots working for China.

Su Bin, arrested in Canada in 2014, admitted guilt in 2016 for stealing designs of US military aircraft by hacking major US defense contractors. He is named as one of seven co-conspirators with Daniel Duggan in the extradition request. However, Duggan's lawyer, Bernard Collaery, contends that Duggan was unaware of Su Bin's illicit activities. According to Collaery, Duggan knew Su Bin simply as an employment broker for the Chinese state aviation company AVIC, and insists that Su Bin's hacking activities were "totally unrelated to our client." Collaery further stated that any improper connections Su Bin may have had with Chinese agents were unknown to Duggan.

‘Overt intelligence contact’

reword the sentence, AVIC was boycotted by the US last year as a Chinese military-connected organization.

Messages recovered from Su Container's electronic gadgets show he paid for Duggan's movement from Australia to Beijing in May 2012, as per removal archives stopped by the US with the Australian court.

Duggan requested that Su Canister assist with obtaining Chinese airplane parts for his Top Firearm vacationer flight business in Australia, Collaery composed.

The Australian Security Knowledge Association (ASIO) and US Naval force criminal specialists realized Duggan was preparing pilots for AVIC and met him in Australia's Tasmania state in December 2012 and February 2013, his legal advisor composed.

ASIO and the US Naval force Criminal Examination Administration didn't answer Reuters demands for input on the gatherings. ASIO has recently said it wouldn't remark as the matter was under the watchful eye of the court.

"An ASIO official recommended that while carrying on his authentic business tasks in China, Mr Duggan might have the option to accumulate delicate data," his legal counselor composed.

Duggan moved to China in 2013 and was banished from leaving the country in 2014, his attorney said. Duggan's LinkedIn profile and avionics sources who realized him said he was working in China as a flying expert in 2013 and 2014.

He revoked his US citizenship in 2016 at the US consulate in Beijing, predated to 2012 on a testament, later "unmistakable knowledge contact by US specialists that might have undermined his family's wellbeing," his legal counselor composed.

His legal counselors go against removal, contending there is no proof the Chinese pilots he prepared were military and that he turned into an Australian resident in January 2012, preceding the supposed offenses.

The US government has contended Duggan didn't lose his US citizenship until 2016.

Source: CNN‍