Top Gun graduate allegedly offered secrets to China for jailbreak

This is a weird story. Navy Lt. Daniel Chase Harris is a graduate of the US Naval Academy in 2005, US Navy Top Gun school, and instructor currently facing life in prison for coercing 9 girls between 12 and 17 into producing sexual videos of themselves. He faces sentencing on Monday.

Correctional officers seized a signed letter, sent under another inmate's name, written to the Chinese embassy, which referenced the F-35, F-18, and general carrier operations, and stated that "once out and under your protection, all my knowledge is yours". Included in the letter was a map to the cell that he is currently in. He also threatened to write to the Russian Embassy if the Chinese didn't act quickly. His last assignment was at the Strike Fighter Weapons School Atlantic at the Oceana Naval Air Station, so he would have plenty of knowledge to give up.

In jail for producing child pornography, a Top Gun graduate turned flight instructor offered to share his fighter pilot expertise with the Chinese government in exchange for its help in breaking him out, according to federal prosecutors.

Correctional officers seized a signed letter to the Chinese Embassy in which Lt. Daniel Chase Harris indicated he had been wrongly convicted of 31 felonies in U.S. District Court in Norfolk and no longer believed in his country.

"Attached is a list (partial) of information I possess that I believe you would be very interested in having. All I ask in return is that you break me out," reads the letter, which referred to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, F/A-18 Super Hornet, and general carrier operations, among other things.

The letter concluded with a threat to contact the Russian Embassy if the Chinese did not act fast.

"Once out and under your protection, all my knowledge is yours."

hamptonroads.com...

This sounds like the plot from a Mission Impossible movie.

what was he thinking?

a reply to: grey580

It really does. I don't know what was going through his head, both when he coerced the girls into making the videos, or with this. The excuse that his lawyer gave was a freaking joke.

For someone with such an impressive resume, mailing the Chinese Embassy from jail is absurdly stupid. I just can't wrap my head around how moronic this guy is for even attempting this.

a reply to: AbstractDreamz

That's why I said it was so weird. Anyone with a resume like that obviously isn't stupid. Yet we have his previous actions to show that he has poor judgement. It's almost like he's two different people.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Yeah, I honestly have no idea. Something about the guy is obviously extremely "off."

Bizarre minds can be extreme, aces at some things, lacking insight in other departments.

Sometimes that magical thinking believing you're not part of the statistics will catch up with people.

a reply to: AbstractDreamz

We can be thankful that he got himself caught before he moved up the chain of command, but I would suggest that the military already knew what a flake he was before he got busted for the porn business.

He is going to find that life in prison is much harder now. Not only are a lot of people in Ft. Leavenworth (assuming that is where he will go) and even other prisons love America. The government has no choice but to remove him from access to other inmates because he is using them to clandestinely send mail like the one he sent to China's Embassy. So, he will be in Ad-Seg for the foreseeable future and that will make prison much harder to deal with than it already is. What an idiot for someone supposedly so smart. And why he ever thought doing what he did would not end badly just supports my previous sentence. How could you think you were wrongly convicted when you know that behavior was totally illegal in the first place. I hope they bury him in the ADAMAX (Administrative SuperMax) Prison in Florence, Colorado where he will get little to no contact even from guards.

"Oh look a letter to the Chinese embassy...that looks OK...wait a minute, we don't have any Chinese nationals in this prison!"

Wow, what a desperate guy.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

He knows his life is in danger in prison, trying to do what he can to get out.

This should catch him an extra treason charge correct?

a reply to: Zaphod58

Aside from the heinousness of his crime involving the girls, at what point is there a treason case against him? I mean, I guess this is 'attempted treason', but one would think that this was a serious attempt?

On a side note - I wonder if he had any comms with intel folks from China prior to actually being in prison (or possible an undercover FBI agent).

As far as a movie script, isn't Top Gun 2 in production?

a reply to: spirit_horse
Hope he goes to pelican bay, no contact with anyone, not even guards.
What a tool

a reply to: SonOfThor

Yes...yes it is. Tom Cruise vs. Drones.

I'm not kidding you. Tom. Cruise. Drones.

SMH The youth of today will never know the true glory of the original film. They'll eat this one up and claim it's so much better. I hate film re-makes.

Thank Goodness this pervert/con artist/traitor wasnt captured in a war zone.He could have given up vital,classified Intel to an enemy for a 13 year old girl..

So since he felt he was wrongly convicted he was going to sell out his country? More shocking is his fellow SFTI's from TopGun? Wow.

Something tells me this isn't going to end well for Lt. Harris. At least I hope it doesn't.

originally posted by: MystikMushroom
a reply to: SonOfThor

Yes...yes it is. Tom Cruise vs. Drones.

I'm not kidding you. Tom. Cruise. Drones.

SMH The youth of today will never know the true glory of the original film. They'll eat this one up and claim it's so much better. I hate film re-makes.

It's one of those movies I forced my daughter and stepson to watch. They thanked me afterwards.

a reply to: MystikMushroom

Maverick V Drones? How is that not a Transformers rip-off?

This is one of those individuals that just makes one scratch their head. I mean, you gotta be screwed up in the head to have the desire to do what he did to get arrested. One would think he could find plenty of 'of-age' college girls / surfer girls, etc. to 'hang out' with. Some people are just twisted I guess.

a reply to: Sremmos80

It SHOULD get him extra charges. It might not matter much if he gets life for the porn charges though, but it definitely should get him attempted espionage at the least.

originally posted by: MystikMushroom
a reply to: SonOfThor


SMH The youth of today will never know the true glory of the original film.

LOL! I'm sure you've seen these at some point. Never a bad time to repost them.

79 Cringeworthy Technical Errors In The Movie 'Top Gun'


ETA: Sorry Zaph. No More Derailing with Top Gun convo from me.