Chenguang Gong, 59, a dual citizen of the United States and China, admitted to transferring more than 3,600 files to personal devices during his brief tenure at the company, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California.

A former engineer who worked on defense technologies used to detect nuclear missile launches and track hypersonic weapons pleaded guilty on Monday to stealing trade secrets in a bid to aid China, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

A former engineer at a Southern California company has admitted to stealing U.S. trade secret technologies intended to detect nuclear missile launches, track ballistic and hypersonic missiles, and to allow U.