A former U.S. Navy sailor has pleaded guilty to plotting an attack on Naval Station Great Lakes and high-profile Chicago landmarks, possibly on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday.
In a press release, the justice department said Xuanyu Harry Pang, 38, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to and attempt to willingly injure and destroy national defense material, premises, and utilities with the intent to injure, obstruct, or interfere with the country’s national defense.
While Pang pleaded in November, the case was not unsealed until Thursday.
According to court records, Pang, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in China, enlisted in the Navy in 2022 and was stationed at Naval Station Great Lakes, the country’s main training base for new sailors.
The FBI began investigating Pang in 2021, when he communicated with a person in Colombia about working with Iranian operatives to attack U.S. targets. That individual later connected Pang with an undercover FBI agent posing as an IRGC Quds Force affiliate.
Authorities said he communicated with individuals he believed were part of an Iranian-linked network seeking revenge for the 2020 U.S. drone strike that killed IRGC Quds Force General Qasem Soleimani in Iraq.
The plot allegedly included bombing Naval Station Great Lakes from within. According to the federal complaint, Pang “displayed photos and videos on his phone of multiple locations inside the Naval Station. He also provided two U.S. military uniforms — for operatives to wear inside the base during the attack — and a cell phone that could be used as a test for a detonator.”
In addition to admitting his involvement in the plot to attack Naval Station Great Lakes, Pang also confessed to exploring various potential targets in Chicago, including Michigan Avenue, city festivals, food fairs, as well as the Millennium Park’s Cloud Gate, commonly known as “The Bean.”
Federal investigators revealed that the attackers discussed deploying radiation bombs to inflict what Pang described as “maximum damage” in one of their recorded conversations.
Pang faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. He is currently being held without bond as he awaits sentencing, which is scheduled for May 27.
