They told us this Naval Officer was a traitor/foreign spy...so why did they drop espionage charges?

Thanks to Sam for the link (you laid it out nicely)!!!!

via Navy Times.

"The Navy has dropped espionage charges against Lt. Cmdr. Edward Lin, part of a plea bargain agreement with the government that will result in the accused spy pleading guilty to a slate of lesser charges."

And then this.

 "In fact, there is stronger evidence the Lin was — or had been — a spy for the United States. The investigation revealed that Lin was an operative in a joint FBI/NCIS task force at some point in his career, but was read out of the program during the period of the accusations for spying and not reporting travel and foreign contacts. "

And finally...

 "According to an investigation report obtained by Navy Times, part of Lin’s official duties with the FBI and NCIS included maintaining contact with Taiwanese officials at the Taiwanese diplomatic outpost in Honolulu and Taiwan. "

Story here and here.

Note to anyone that might be ready to play spy games.  Spooks will turn on you faster than a Bangkok whore trying to turn tricks.  The only way you can deal with those guys is to demonstrate or convince them that you'll slay their family and friends if they go sideways on ya (which is probably why SOCOM can stomach dealing with them---last thing any of these guys want is a Bin Laden style raid by SEALs, Rangers, MARSOC or AFSOC).

And even then you're not safe (IMO).

This is the perfect example of what the military fiction writers call "the land of mirrors".  We'll never know what the real deal is here.  For all we know this guy could be a patriot and is taking one for the team with the promise of being taken care of later.  He could be an asset for a foreign govt and they couldn't prove it in court.

In the end it doesn't matter....if you're not the director of one of these agencies then no matter what your rank or self importance you're just a disposable asset.