The Air Force’s top general has warned that China is recruiting hundreds of service veterans and troops for their institutional military knowledge.
In a Sept. 5 memo sent out to the service, Air Force Chief of Staff Charles Brown said China's People's Liberation Army "wants to exploit your knowledge and skill to fill gaps in their military capability,” Military.com reported.
“Foreign companies are targeting and recruiting U.S.- and NATO-trained military talent,” the memo warned.
According to Military.com, a subsequent Air Force press release noted that the pitch usually comes in the form of vague contracts or subcontract offers.
The exact number of Air Force personnel targeted isn’t known, but a Department of the Air Force official told Military.com it's likely in the hundreds — and extends to other service branches and allies overseas.
The Air Force said an example of the effort occurred in June, when "the government placed the Test Flying Academy of South Africa on an export control list based on its work to facilitate training and technical support for the PLA using a former U.S. military member,” the outlet reported.
The alert comes as Department of the Air Force officials highlight China as a national security threat — and represents one of the strongest and most direct warnings from the service about the country's bullish tactics.
An Air Force Office of Special Investigations supervisory special agent said in a press release last week that "multiple members of the U.S. military who span several specialties are currently being targeted for recruitment by PLA-associated companies,” the outlet reported.
The unidentified OSI agent said contracts that "seem too good to be true" or lack information about who's getting the service are a red flag.
In his memo, Brown wrote that if service members accept the contracts, they could face legal consequences.
"By essentially training the trainer, many of those who accept contracts with these foreign companies are eroding our national security, putting the very safety of their fellow service members and the country at risk, and may be violating the law," Brown wrote, Military.com reported.
The outlet reported the Air Force's press release stated offers could come in the form of "seemingly innocuous business deals or tech partnerships" that could "gradually pull them into covert activities that serve the interests of the Chinese government."
"These opportunities may be advertised on typical job listings or professional networking sites, such as LinkedIn or Indeed, and targeted headhunting emails are being sent directly to the inboxes of individuals with desired skill sets," according to the release.
Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told Military.com he saw Brown's memo as a good reminder that veterans should be cautious about what jobs they take after leaving the service — and not an indicator of an increased China threat.
"As part of the training that we receive on operational security, and particularly as you retire from the military, you're required to receive briefings in terms of what you can and can't do when it comes to working for foreign governments," Ryder told the outlet.
"So, I think Gen. Brown's point was, again, to just flag that you have to keep your head on a swivel in terms of who is asking you to do what in light of the threat that China poses."
Other services have also faced issues with service members allegedly being compromised by Chinese agents, the outlet noted — including two Navy sailors in California indicted on espionage charges for allegedly being paid for providing classified documents and information to Chinese agents.
Similarly, The Wall Street Journal has reported that Chinese nationals, sometimes under the guise of being tourists, have accessed U.S. military bases and other installations around 100 times in recent years.