Australia approves extradition of former U.S. Marine over alleged training of Chinese military pilots

Daniel Duggan, who served in the Marines for 12 years before immigrating to Australia and giving up his U.S. citizenship, has been in a maximum-security prison since he was arrested in 2022 at his family home in the state of New South Wales. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Former U.S. Marine Corps pilot Daniel Duggan will be extradited from Australia to the United States over allegations that he illegally trained Chinese aviators.

Australia’s Attorney General Mark Dreyfus approved the extradition on Monday (December 23, 2024), ending the Boston-born 55-year-old’s nearly two-year attempt to avoid being returned to the U.S.

Duggan, who served in the Marines for 12 years before immigrating to Australia and giving up his U.S. citizenship, has been in a maximum-security prison since he was arrested in 2022 at his family home in the state of New South Wales. He is the father of six children.

Mr. Dreyfus confirmed in a statement on Monday (December 23, 2024) he had approved the extradition but did not say when Duggan would be transferred to the U.S.

“Duggan was given the opportunity to provide representations as to why he should not be surrendered to the United States. In arriving at my decision, I took into consideration all material in front of me,” Mr. Dreyfus said in the statement.

In May 2024, a Sydney judge ruled Duggan could be extradited to the U.S., leaving an appeal to the attorney general as Duggan’s last hope of remaining in Australia.

In a 2016 indictment from the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., unsealed in late 2022, prosecutors said Duggan conspired with others to provide training to Chinese military pilots in 2010 and 2012, and possibly at other times, without applying for an appropriate license.

Prosecutors say he received payments totaling around 88,000 Australian dollars ($61,000) and international travel from another conspirator for what was sometimes described as “personal development training.”

If convicted, Duggan faces up to 60 years in prison. He denies the allegations.

“We feel abandoned by the Australian government and deeply disappointed that they have completely failed in their duty to protect an Australian family,” his wife, Saffrine Duggan, said in a statement on Monday (December 23, 2024). “We are now considering our options.”