Two Chinese nationals were sentenced Friday to federal prison for conspiring to act as agents of the People's Republic of China and acting as agents of a foreign government with prior notification to the attorney general. 

Liren “Ryan” Lai, 40, and Yuance Chen, 39, were each sentenced to 30 months imprisonment and three years of supervised release. 

Prosecutors say that the two men carried out clandestine intelligence activities in the United States that included facilitating secret “dead drop” cash payments in exchange for information related to the national security of the United States. They were also accused of gathering information about U.S. military personnel and installations, and assisting efforts to recruit potential intelligence assets from within the U.S. military.

“These defendants were directed by a foreign intelligence service to gather information about the U.S. military in the hopes of undermining our national security," United States Attorney Craig Missakian said in a statement.