Ontario man accused of trying to send classified ship info to China: RCMP

Chief Superintendent Jennifer Strachan, RCMP Criminal Operations with the Province of Ontario, speaks to media after announcing the arrest of 53 year old Qing Quentin Huang at a press conference in Toronto on Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013. (Aaron Vincent Elkaim / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

An Ontario naval engineer is facing the prospect of life in prison after RCMP accused him of attempting to sell classified information to China concerning Canada’s shipbuilding strategy, including plans to build warships and icebreakers.

Police allege Qing Quentin Huang, 53, a Canadian citizen from Waterdown, Ont., was attempting to communicate with China to supply information related to elements of the government’s National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy (NSPS), RCMP Chief Supt. Jennifer Strachan said at a news conference Sunday.

He was arrested Saturday and charged with two counts under the Security of Information Act, after attempting to sell the classified information through a contact at the Chinese embassy in Ottawa, police allege.

Established in 2010, Canada’s three-pronged National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy serves as a guide for the construction of large and small vessels, as well as the repair, refit and maintenance of the existing fleet.

The strategy includes patrol ships, frigates, naval auxiliary vessels, science research vessels and icebreakers.

“In these types of cases, sharing information may give a foreign entity a tactical, military or competitive advantage by knowing the specification of vessels responsible for defending Canadian waters and Canadian sovereignty,” Strachan said.

But RCMP Director General Larry Tremblay said Mounties were “able to move quickly to disrupt the threat to Canadian interest” after being made aware of the case on Nov.28. Huang was arrested two days later in Burlington, Ont.

Strachan said Huang was an employee of Lloyd’s Register, a company subcontracted by Irving Shipbuilding Inc. In 2011, Ottawa announced that Irving had been selected to build combat vessels as part of a 30-year, $33-billion project.

In a statement released Sunday afternoon, Irving Shipbuilding President Kevin McCoy said the suspect did not have direct access to “any classified or controlled information” relating to the NSPS vessels.

“Security of information surrounding the AOPS (Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships) project, and all NSPS programs is tightly controlled at Irving Shipbuilding. We adhere to all security protocols required by our customers,” the statement said.

Huang is charged under the Security Information Act with two counts of attempting to communicate classified information to a foreign entity. A conviction carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.

He appeared before a judge Sunday and will be held in custody for a bail hearing on Dec. 4.

The RCMP investigation, dubbed Project Seascape, was led by RCMP-led Integrated National Security Enforcement Teams in Toronto. The team included members of the RCMP, Canadian Security Intelligence Services, the Canadian Border Service Agency and other law enforcement and national security partners at the federal, provincial and municipal levels.

Past security threats

John Thompson, a security consultant with Strategic Capital and Intelligence Group Ltd., said Canada is a world leader in acoustic technology underwater listening devices, underwater microphones and sonar, which have been subject to “hostile intelligence probes” in the past.

“We’ve had the Soviets trying to listen in to setups we’ve had on our East Coast, and we’ve had the Chinese interested in acoustic technology in the West Coast in the past,” Thompson told CTV News.

RCMP said they believe Huang was working on his own -- something which isn’t unusual in the history of intelligence, Thompson said.

“There have been a lot of cases where somebody walked out of the factory or the plant they’ve been working in, with a basketful of information, and given it or sold it to another country,” Thompson said.

Huang is only the second person charged under the Security of Information Act, which was passed in 2001, replacing the Official Secrets Act.

In 2012, Jeffrey Delisle, a Canadian Forces naval intelligence officer, was the first person to be charged with violating the act. Delisle was sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to selling classified information to Russia over a four-year period.

Geoffrey O’Brian, former CSIS chief of counter intelligence, said Canada is constantly at risk for potential targeted leaks.

“The economy generally has become globalized and of course technology now means that we communicate through just an absolute plethora of platforms,” O’Brian told CTV News.

“So information is much more easily shared and the economic benefits or the desire to get an economic advantage is worldwide,” he added.

With reports from CTV News and The Canadian Press