A US defense contractor in Hawaii has been arrested on charges of passing national defense secrets, including classified information about nuclear weapons, to a Chinese woman with whom he was romantically involved, authorities said on Monday. Benjamin Pierce Bishop, 59, a former US Army officer who works as a civilian employee of a defense contractor at US Pacific Command in Oahu was arrested on Friday and made his first appearance in federal court on Monday, the US Attorney's Office for the District of Hawaii said in a news release. He is charged with one count of willfully communicating national defense information to a person not entitled to receive it, and one count of unlawfully retaining documents related to national defense. If convicted, he faces a maximum of 20 years in prison. Bishop allegedly passed national defense secrets to her on multiple occasions, including classified information about nuclear weapons and the planned deployment of US strategic nuclear systems. Other secrets included information on the United States' ability to detect foreign governments' low- and medium-range ballistic missiles, as well as information on the deployment of US early warning radar systems in the Pacific Rim. — AP
