After an eight month federal investigation, seven people (five Chinese-Americans and two Chinese citizens) were arrested for illegally exports electronics technology to China. Among the items illegally exported, were technologies that can be used to build jammers to be used against the radars and communications gear on American warplanes, space satellites and ships. The seven suspects used shell companies and false export documents to get the specialized electronics to China, despite the need for State Department authorization for exporting such items. This is only the latest of several such cases that have come to light this year. There are apparently dozens of similar cases under investigation. China has long been blatant in the way they steal technology. China will sometimes even make deals with foreign to countries to buy their military technology, using the argument that if the sale is not made, China will go ahead and steal it anyway. By making the sale, the seller gets more money for their technology, and China gets foreign engineers to transfer the technology more quickly and more completely. Russia and Israel have gone along with this sort of thing, but American manufacturers are forbidden, by law, to submit to this kind of extortion. Like the Soviet Union before it, the Chinese communists see the acquisition of new military technology via espionage and illegal means as justified by the need for building up the national defenses.