This is juicy. And not in a good way.

It’s also frightening. For the United States Navy AND the whole damn country.

It’s also impossible to fathom. But here it is …

A U.S. Navy officer who works in reconnaissance is facing espionage charges after accusations surfaced that he relayed sensitive information and secrets to China and Taiwan — according to a U.S. official who spilled the beans to Reuters Sunday.

While the official who leaked the story hasn’t identified his or herself, they did let the world news organization know who the alleged spy is.

He’s Lieutenant Commander Edward Lin — a naturalized citizen who was born in Taiwan and speaks fluent Mandarin.

According to redacted documents dug up by Reuters, Lin was assigned to the headquarters for the Navy’s Patrol and Reconnaissance Group.

In addition to allegedly being a rat, the Navy officer was also accused of some lewd behavior, stuff involving him and someone else other than his wife getting naked, and cash.

This from Reuters:

It accused him twice of communicating secret information and three times of attempting to do so to a representative of a foreign government “with intent or reason to believe it would be used to the advantage of a foreign nation.”

The document did not identify what foreign country or countries were involved.

The U.S. official said both China and Taiwan were possible but stressed the investigation was still going on.

The suspect was also accused of engaging in prostitution and adultery. He has been held in pre-trial confinement for the past eight months or so, the official added.

USNI News, which first reported Lin’s identity, said he … managed the collection of electronic signals from the EP3-E Aries II signals intelligence aircraft.

The story gets weirder though.

Apparently, the Navy did a story about the suspect back in 2008, a puff piece about how he ended up in America and how it fulfilled his wildest fantasies and yada yada yada. Here’s a quote of his from the article:

“I always dreamt about coming to America, the ‘promised land’,” he said. “I grew up believing that all roads in America lead to Disneyland.”

Was it the moment soon after Lin came to America when he realized that all roads don’t lead to Disneyland that drove him to turn his back on the United States and spy on it for other countries, including one of our largest trade partners/enemies in China?

Naturally, both Taiwan and China officials denied knowing anything about Lin or the charges.

UPDATE: Looks like Lin was feeding Taiwan secrets, not China …

You can also view Lin’s official charge sheet here. 

Stay tuned to the blog for more on this developing story.