The charge sheet is short on drama and long on dates. It names Chief Petty Officer Fire Controlman Bryce Pedicini, a sailor assigned to the Japan-based destroyer USS Higgins (DDG-76), and lists four charges. The core allegation is espionage: that he passed classified material to a member of a foreign government. USNI News obtained the document and reported its contents on 21 February 2024.
The U.S. Naval Surface Force confirmed an investigation without naming him. A spokesperson said a sailor assigned to the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer was “suspected of mishandling classified documents and information. The incident remains under investigation and legal proceedings continue.”
What the charging documents allege
Two separate episodes appear in the paperwork. The first dates to Hampton Roads, Virginia, where Pedicini is accused of giving documents to an employee of a foreign government on several occasions between November 2022 and February 2023.
The second took place in Yokosuka, Japan, between May 8 and May 17. There, the documents say, he tried to communicate information relating to national defense photographs, including images of a computer screen that showed secret information. The charging papers say he had information “with reason to believe that it would be used to the injury of the United States and to the advantage of a foreign nation.”
Lesser counts accuse him of taking a personally owned electronic device into a secure room, and of processing classified material on a system not approved for it. He is also accused of failing to report that an unauthorized person had solicited classified information.
Where the case stands
Pedicini was arrested shortly after the Japan incident and has been in pre-trial confinement since May 19. The charges were referred to a general court-martial on January 18. His Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a civilian arraignment, has already taken place, and the Daily Mail reported a hearing was set for Wednesday in San Diego.
He is originally from Tennessee and joined the Navy in 2008. Before reporting to the Higgins in April he served on the USS McFaul and the USS Curtis Wilbur.
