Kun Shan "Joey" Chun, a naturalized U.S. citizen and an employee of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has pleaded guilty to leaking top secret information to the Chinese government on Monday. Chun admitted having acted as a double agent for China between 2011 and 2016, during a time in which he had top secret security clearance and access to classified government information.

The 46-year-old Chun was born in China, but he eventually became a naturalized American citizen. When he was 27 years old, he began to work for the FBI as a technician at the Bureau's Computerized Central Monitoring Facility in New York. He was granted his top secret security clearance a year after his employment, in 1998.

According to prosecutors of the case, Chun had started his espionage against the United States as early as 2006, when he established connections with at least one "Chinese Official." By 2011, Chun had allegedly been in constant contact with his connection to the mainland, sharing U.S. secrets with the official.

"On multiple occasions prior to his arrest in March 2016, Chun collected sensitive FBI information and caused it to be transmitted to Chinese Official-1 and others, while at the same time engaging in a prolonged and concerted effort to conceal from the FBI his illicit relationships with these individuals," the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement.

Over the course of his espionage activities, prosecutors believe that Chun had taken pictures of a sensitive area and transmitted details about surveillance technologies used by the Bureau. He had also allegedly leaked the FBI's organizational chart, though personnel names had been removed.

New York Southern District U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara has expressed his views about Chun's offenses to the United States.

"Americans who act as unauthorized foreign agents commit a federal offense that betrays our nation and threatens our security. And when the perpetrator is an FBI employee, like Kun Shan Chun, the threat is all the more serious and the betrayal all the more duplicitous," he said.

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Carlin summed up the rationale behind the charges against the double agent.

"Kun Shan Chun violated our nation's trust by exploiting his official U.S. Government position to provide restricted and sensitive FBI information to the Chinese government," he stated.

However, Chun's defense attorney Jonathan Marvinny stated that his client is gravely sorry and that he is regretting his actions.

"The truth is that Mr. Chun loves the United States and never intended to cause it any harm," he said.

The sentencing of Joey Chun is scheduled for Dec. 2.

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