Former US fighter pilot accused of giving military secrets to China | 60 Minutes Australia

he was offered a job to go and teach Chinese civilian Pilots stand flies planes it's a job great group from Top Gun fighter pilot to solitary confinement in an Australian jail this is a country coming after my husband one man against the US the military is privy to secrets and they cannot trade those Secrets away America says Daniel Dugen gave military secrets to China so you would say these Pilots are cashing in on their own own country it's a betrayal and must be punished so not a single other pilot has been charged only Dan only Dan why that's the million dollar question but his family say he's no traitor this is one big mistake he's a hero there's a hole in my heart I don't have my dad anymore he's gone that's next on 60 Minutes who is the real Daniel Edmund Dugen it's a simple question but the answer is highly contested and has enormous conse quences for his family and a large group of supporters he's a hero a former US Marine fighter pilot turned proud Australian citizen a loving husband and a devoted dad for others though namely the United States government he's a traitor accused of supplying China with top secret military information for the past 19 months Dugen has been sitting in Australian prisons fighting attempts to send him back to the the US a decision about his extradition is expected within weeks but if the Americans get a hold of him and can prove he sold them out he'll face up to 65 more years locked [Applause] up hi this is Dan du I'm a former US Marine Harrier jumpjet pilot and weapons and tactics instructor when it comes to combat Daniel dug can battle with the best I trained fellow fighter pilots in air combat tactics and Flu from aircraft carriers around the but the country this Aviator once served is now fighting here one man against the US it's disgraceful to his wife safine Dugen and their six kids Daniel is a hero I was blown away he was my top G but in the eyes of the US government this Top Gun is a traitor he's accused of doing what no US military personnel should ever do give away secret intelligence to China the military is privy to secrets and they cannot trade those Secrets away with foreign countries with foreign competitors with foreign adversaries Homeland Security expert Dr Charles E Dell says the allegations against Daniel Dugen couldn't be more serious the charges are mired in legal jargon but the US claims when the former Marine major was employed at a flying school in South Africa in 2012 he taught Chinese military Pilots secret combat techniques including how to take off and land on aircraft carriers the United States and its allies have Advantage because of their combat experience you do not want your adversary to understand that the last thing in the world that we want to do is make the Chinese military more capable more Adept at being able to fight do you think the US is making an example out of your husband yes my husband is being used as a porn in this geopolitical mess that's happening right now safine Dugen says the AL ations are ridiculous she finds it impossible to understand why it's taken more than a decade to come about and she's Furious her husband has to be locked up in maximum security while he waits to find out if he'll be extradited to the United States another Prospect she can't bear to contemplate he's put on a plane and taken to the US he's taken away immediately he's gone it says 65 5year sentence it's a death sentence for my husband who is in in his 50s if you add that on that's 120 years we will never see him again my kids will never grow up with a father Daniel Dugen always wanted to be a pilot he joined the Marines in 1990 and flew harriets in 2002 his service ended and moved to Australia 10 years later he became an Aussie but curiously instead of being a dual National he gave up his American citizenship it was while living in Tasmania he met and fell in love with saffre Dan had an adventure company flying planes and I was a photographer what you're about to do is probably one of the most unique corporate events that you could have possibly done anywhere in the world my heart skipped a beat and hasn't stopped skipping a beat ever since I met him we had the three kids 10 three kids was a beautiful time life was good but while running his business in Tasmania dougen also took temporary contracts to train Pilots at a flying school in South Africa it's what happened there between 2009 and 2012 that the Americans are now questioning Daniel says he only ever taught civilian pilots from China but the US claims they were in fact Chinese military aviators Dr ell says it's often difficult to separate the two the Chinese have introduced a concept that they call civil military fusion and how they go about acquiring technology but it basically lays out the case that there is no distinction between civilian and military application and use there is no bright shining line between those who are trained in the civilian Arena and those who have the ability to actualize things from a military perspective when you're dealing with the Chinese state so back in 2012 would there have been a big difference between a civilian pilot and a military pilot would that have been more clearcut I I think even in 2012 there were concerns uh about the Chinese [Music] military I served honorably and proudly for 12 years there was not one time at one at any point where my oath to the Constitution uh was ever violated or in questioned better you're listening to Daniel Dugen speaking to a supporter from inside his prison cell where he's now been in solitary confinement for 569 days dougen argues the work he was doing in South Africa was all above board and he certainly wasn't training Chinese military Pilots I was a part-time employee of one of the top test pilot schools in the world that was run by some of the most highly regarded avii Professionals in the world he was offered a job to go and teach civilian Pilots Chinese civilian pilots and that's Dan flies planes that it's a job but America says as a former Marine fighter pilot Dugen needed government approval in the form of a state approved license to do that kind of work what was Dan's understanding about needing a license to train Pilots Dan's a smart intelligent man there was no permission needed because they're training civilian Pilots so he was conscious of of doing the right thing absolutely yes he knows the procedures I have never intentionally a warly or norly violated any law or any restriction from any country anywhere in the world throughout my entire life there's no way that this could be one big mistake that he should have got a license he should have got approval by the US this is one big mistake he didn't need approval to teach Pilots to train in South Africa on the job he was doing let's put a name on it it's a betrayal ultimately it's to do with money you're probably willing then to turn a blind eye you're probably willing to put that sense of of Duty and patriotism into the corner hoping that you might get away with it well you won't former UK defense minister Tobias Elwood says his country has faced similar controversies with a number of former RAF Pilots earning big money to help the Chinese as a consequence he has little sympathy for Daniel Dugen we are entering a dangerous uh era now anybody serving in the British armed forces or the Australian or do the American you may leave the Armed Forces but your loyalty to the nation must remain sacran so when you look at the conspiracy charge against Daniel Dugen just how serious is that allegation it is huge and it's a testament as to what China will now do to try and better understand what our doctrines and Protocols are about so you would say these Pilots are cashing in on their own country I think it's done initially on by naivity but the way it works with with when you get caught and and snared into these systems um is that you feel that you then can no longer say no because you've crossed a you know perhaps A Thin Red Line but then you get immersed in providing more and more information perhaps you know being lured in and that takes him to a very very dangerous place indeed the allegations against Dugen include that he laundered the money he was paid but safine says this accusation is laughable yes she acknowledges Daniel was paid $180,000 in total but says all of the money was legally declared in Australia so how do you pay tax on your own income and then it gets called money laundering I mean it's ridiculous it's a tiny amount of money in the scheme of putting my husband through 18 months of solitary confinement safine says her husband's treatment has been appalling and that he's been singled out unfairly but it hasn't only been training Chinese pilots in South Africa that's drawn suspicion in 2014 Dugen reloc ated his entire family from Australia to China again though safine says there was nothing UNT about the move it was the place to be there was lots of Australians going over there um Asia was a real Hots spot and what was Dan doing there Dan was an aviation consultant the aviation industry was starting to boom and he worked with airports and um Safety Management after 6 years saf and the kids returned home to Australia but for Daniel it wasn't that simple it's not clear why but the Chinese government confiscated his passport and didn't return it until September 2022 Dugen immediately flew home not knowing bigger trouble was brewing this photo here what does this photo mean to you now it means a L Dan actually took this photo as a selfie to text Mom and say it's okay we've made it to school he's got this it was only a month after coming home to Orange in Regional New South Wales a normal day Daniel dropped his kids at school before heading to the local shops but out of the blue in the supermarket car park he was surrounded by Australian federal police he was coming to bring a coffee to me at my work and I waited and waited then I got a phone call from him saying I'm at the Orange Police Station I've been arrested and I I could I'm I'm like I don't understand and then I go down to the police station and what are you told that your husband's been arrested by the US government she looked at his file and said oh this looks bad I said what do you mean this looks bad did you ever think at that point that it had anything to do with his military experience erience him serving his country no I didn't know what it was about we didn't know for 2 months after we didn't even know what why he'd been arrested were you worried that there was something about your husband you didn't know no but the United States government claims there is rightly or wrongly they see him as a threat to their Homeland Security so not a single other pilot been charged no only Dan only Dan why okay bye boys have a good day have a good day sweetie you too first stay back you want to take this one safine Dugen never imagined she'd be forced to raise six children on her own not enough short but that's been the case for the last 19 months while her husband Daniel has been locked up in lith Go's Maximum Security Prison awaiting a decision about whether he'll be extradited to the United States he's living a nightmare it's like living in your bathroom 2x4 me cell this is an innocent man that has no Australian charges saine's right her husband is not a accused of any Australian crime but the allegations he faces in the US are serious the 55-year-old former Marine pilot is accused of trading top secret military tactics with China when he taught at a flying school in South Africa more than a decade ago they call it exporting defense services so training in techniques tactics and procedures acquired from your time in the military to another another military who are potentially adversary Dr Glenn colitz spent 30 years in the Australian Army now an international lawyer and defense analyst he's gone into battle for Dugen who he says has become a political prisoner why is the US so out to get him we can link this almost to the day when China went from being the trading partner um and this this friend broadly this friend to being um the adversary almost of the day and suddenly Bang there there's this indictment raised you know this allegations raised in the US against Dan not withstanding it was many many years after the allegations allegedly took place so it reeks of politics and it reeks of messaging to to China this is the indictment against Dugen prepared by the US government it's 17 pages of damning claims [Music] whether to indict somebody but Glen is damning of it there was no truth to anything in that indictment Dan's dealings with China are all through this indictment that's part of the irrelevance because the charges relate to his work in South Africa only any mention of China is is totally irrelevant to the charges it's inflammatory Dr colid also argues there was nothing secret about any of the training Dugen did in South Africa or who was being taught he says what the civilian Pilots were all learning could easily be sourced from textbooks or by searching the internet the training that Dan and this company were delivering is publicly available is it not different though to have somebody actually sitting next to you going you pull this lever you do this oh absolutely there's always a difference you you can't there's a saying you can't learn to fly a plane by reading a book nonetheless the flying this is the flying that dam was providing is all out there on the [Music] internet Daniel dougen denies doing anything wrong and that the school in South Africa was training civilian Pilots identifying a civilian pilot to a military pilot is that something that would be clear well I I think this is how China goes about its business it very much makes it a gray area this is designed to lure people in to think it's quite Innocent but there's a step further than that when you start speaking about what you did when you wore the uniform and that crosses a very very clear line before becoming an MP Tobias Elwood was a left tenant colonel in the British army he says military personnel should know their ongoing obligations to their country when you sign up to the military what oath or promise do you make about sharing your military skills well you you make a promise to absolutely remain loyal uh to the realm but sadly that's not always the case at the time of dougen's arrest in 2022 30 RAF Pilots were also being investigated over their dealings with China Tobias Elwood says they were warned to stop or face prosecution shortly after tough new laws were introduced in the UK Banning former military personnel from sharing their knowledge with countries seen as high risk Australia too has now adopted similar rules why does China look to Western countries to train its military Pilots well China is growing in its uh military competence certainly in its power but it's not actually engaged in warfare that's when you're truly tested China is trying to glean from the West particularly Australia America and Britain that lead on the these fronts as to how we do things in June last year the US placed the South African Flying school where Dugen had worked on a national security blacklist for providing training to Chinese military Pilots using Western and NATO sources but the company told us he only ever had a very short involvement with them and most of the issues relating to Dugen had nothing to do with them so any of the other training Pilots over there have there been any consequences for the other trainers no none so not a single other pilot has been charged no only Dan only Dan if Glenn colitz is right it does seem unusual that Daniel Dugen is being singled out coming up the impact extradition will have on his family what's that process look like he's taken away immediately he's gone his children will never see him again he will not get a fair trial there's been nothing fair about this the whole time okay who's going in the back of the car every Sunday morning since October 2022 safine and her six children have visited Daniel Dugen in jail but this could be one of the last times the kids will see their father come on we don't want to be late because in 2 weeks the former fighter pilot will find out if he'll be extradited to America can everyone please get ID I want you to take all bracelets off and not allow them in there to face accusations of sharing secret US military information with China can I help you hi there we're here to see Dan Dugen thank you I feel the pressure of time is running out speaking to a friend from inside his maximum security cell it's clear dougen is stressed about being away from his family I'm a loving father loving husband I miss my children terribly and the very real possibility of being sent to America it's horrible I wouldn't wish this one had worse than I'm very proud of him he's very inspirational for me 18-year-old Molly is dougen's eldest child she refuses to believe her dad's a criminal I feel like our world's been torn apart and I just I want the trauma to stop do you fear that you may never get to have your dad back again I probably won't have my dad back again he's been in maximum security for so long can you imagine being isolated like that for so long he's not going to be the same person that he was before they took him it cuts out after 10 minutes so it's hard to have a long conversation in depth there's the emotional side but what's it actually going to mean for your family if he's extradited we all Australian citizens it means that my kids lose their father their family is torn apart for something that can be stopped it's absolutely unbelievable to think that Australia would do this the sun's rise was so pretty this morning though despite the fact he's an Australian citizen the Australian government has so far remained quiet on the Dugen case yeah so true cra's apparent unwillingness to be involved D is particularly disappointing for lawyer Glenn colitz who's fighting to have Dugen freed what do you think of our government's handling of this case I feel we've sacrificed our sovereignty to the us our government I I wore the uniform of this country for most of my adult life it's lap dog diplomacy there needs to be a very powerful message that this behavior is unacceptable British MP Tobias Elwood says Daniel duin's predicament should be a cautionary tail for ex-servicemen from all Western Nations the very clear cut situation now is that you will be watched uh and eventually you'll end up probably Behind Bars therefore think twice before you know taking your first paycheck you know from a [Music] competitor it's one man up against the might of the United States government the odds are not stacked in this former Marine major favor of course the bid to extradite him might fail and he could walk free more likely though he'll be sent to America to face four charges including conspiracy and money laundering and if found guilty a punishment of up to 65 years in prison for all the critics out there that would say where there's smoke there's fire with this case what would you say to them there's no Australian charges whatsoever Dan was a proud Military Marine he's a proud Australian he didn't break any laws Dan is an innocent man our truth will [Music] win I ask the people of Australia um to please help us help my family to to fight this injustice how was it seeing Bobby it's difficult not to feel for Daniel duan's wife and young children their Futures are unclear but for the United States going all out to punish a former member of its military this is a black and white case rules are rules what does he deserve he deserves to come home to his family you won't give up will you no we will not give up I want to be proud that our Australian government does the right thing and brings Dan home hello I'm di Clancy thanks for watching 60 Minutes Australia subscribe to our Channel now for brand new stories and exclusive Clips every week and don't miss out on our extra minute segments and full episodes of 60 Minutes on 9 now.com and the N Now app

Channel: 60 Minutes Australia

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Keywords: 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia, Liz Hayes, Tara Brown, 60Mins, Amelia Adams, news, world news, news australia, investigative journalism, 60 minutes australia youtube, 60 minutes youtube, 60 minutes episodes, 60 minutes australia episodes, 60 minutes australia, 60 minutes, Adam Hegarty, Dimity Clancey, Nick McKenzie, top gun, fighter pilot, pilot, airplane, military, air force, daniel duggan, wanted, china, america, united states, south africa, marines, top secret, jet

Id: YTi7Lw6wTXU

Length: 26min 26sec (1586 seconds)

Published: Sun May 12 2024