FBI Informant’s $665K Payday for Playing Terrorist Will Leave You Speechless

Written by James Carter.

A confidential informant has pocketed $665,638.63 from the FBI over the last eight years, with a chunk of that earned by masquerading as an Iraqi terrorist in a sting operation that nabbed a former Navy sailor. This jaw-dropping sum, laid bare in court documents unsealed on February 27, 2025, pulls back the curtain on the shadowy economics of national security—and it’s a reality that hits home for anyone wondering where tax dollars go. The case revolves around Xuanyu Harry Pang, whose guilty plea to conspiring against U.S. defense just became public, offering a stark lesson in loyalty and betrayal.

The Informant’s Lucrative Double Life

Known only as Confidential Human Source 1 (CHS1), this individual has been on the FBI’s payroll since 2014, motivated by a blend of civic duty and cash rewards. An October 2022 criminal complaint, recently made public, paints CHS1 as a clean slate—no arrests, no red flags—making him a trusted asset for nearly a decade. His total haul of over $665,000 covers multiple assignments, though the Pang operation stands out as a headline-grabber. That figure dwarfs the roughly $80,000 yearly pay of a typical FBI agent, a comparison that might make adults juggling mortgages or car payments pause.

The informant’s task here was no desk job—he stepped into the role of a Kata’ib Hizballah operative, an Iran-backed militia, meeting Pang face-to-face to unravel a potential disaster. It’s the kind of work that demands nerve, and the payoff reflects that risk. For professionals in law enforcement or security, this underscores how the FBI leans on human intelligence to bridge gaps technology can’t always close.

Pang’s Tangled Plot Unraveled

Xuanyu Harry Pang, 38, a China-born U.S. citizen, joined the Navy in February 2022 and was based at Naval Station Great Lakes in North Chicago. By November 2024, he’d admitted guilt to charges of plotting against national defense—a plea unsealed alongside the informant’s earnings last week. The Justice Department ties him to a Colombian accomplice with links to the National Liberation Army (ELN), a Marxist guerrilla outfit born in the 1960s. Their apparent aim? Avenge Qasem Soleimani, the IRGC general killed by a U.S. strike in 2020, though what drove this odd duo remains a puzzle.

The conspiracy took a wild turn with talk of smuggling polonium—a radioactive killer if inhaled or ingested—into the U.S., with the Colombian boasting it’d “detonate” in a city by mid-2023. That never happened, thanks to the FBI’s early moves. It started with a warrant on Pang’s online activity in April 2022—why they looked isn’t clear—followed by an undercover agent posing as an Iraqi Shia commander reaching out to the Colombian in July. Pang got roped in, and soon CHS1 was in the mix, steering the plot toward its undoing.

For anyone who’s served or worked near military bases, Pang’s breach stings—an insider turning rogue is a nightmare scenario. The case exposes how even a fresh enlistee can slip through, raising hard questions about vetting in an era of global tensions.

How the Informant Sealed Pang’s Fate

CHS1 met Pang at least three times starting September 2022, each encounter peeling back more of his intent. Early on, Pang balked at attacking military sites. “Heavily guarded,” he told CHS1, estimating a two-hour drive to one base and dismissing a two-man job as “impossible.” The informant pressed—gently, then firmly—asking Pang to scout anyway. Something clicked; by October 15, Pang was sharing surveillance footage from inside Naval Station Great Lakes, knowing full well the danger of those images.

That meeting wasn’t just talk—Pang got $3,000 cash from CHS1, a transaction that tightened the noose. Later, he handed over military uniforms to sneak operatives onto the base and a cellphone for a possible detonator test. The FBI pounced with an arrest warrant on October 16, 2022, though the case stayed under wraps for over two years. Now, with sentencing looming on May 27, 2025, Pang faces up to 20 years—a steep fall from sailor to felon.

Picture a coworker nudged into a bad call by a persistent colleague—it’s not a perfect parallel, but Pang’s slide from doubt to action feels eerily relatable. The informant didn’t just observe; he shaped the outcome, proving how pivotal these operatives are in turning suspicion into evidence.

Our Take

The Pang case, paired with CHS1’s hefty earnings, lays bare the gritty machinery of counterterrorism. Over $665,000 for eight years of informant work is no small change—it’s a taxpayer-funded bet that paid off here, dismantling a plot before it could ignite. Yet, it’s fair to wonder if that money could stretch further, maybe bolstering base security or screening processes to catch a Pang before he enlists. The balance between proactive stings and prevention is tricky, and this case doesn’t settle it.

What lingers is Pang’s betrayal—a Navy recruit plotting with foreign radicals over a substance as sinister as polonium. It’s a relief the FBI stopped it, but the holes it reveals in military ranks are unsettling. As someone who’s dissected stories like this for years, I’d argue for tighter internal checks alongside these informant plays—why not both? The informant’s haul might raise eyebrows, but his results speak. Still, the murky motives and sealed files leave a nagging sense we’re only seeing part of the picture.

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