The United States has brought first-of-its kind cyber-espionage charges against five Chinese military officials accused of hacking into U.S. companies to gain trade secrets.

The indictment accuses the hackers of targeting the U.S. nuclear power, metals and solar products industries. The alleged victims are brand-name companies including Alcoa and Westinghouse.

The indictment includes allegations of trade secret theft and economic espionage.

Attorney General Eric Holder and other federal law enforcement officials were announcing the indictments later Monday. Holder says in a statement that the U.S. will not tolerate foreign government efforts to sabotage American companies.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. (AP Photo/Andrew Winning, Pool, File)
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. (AP Photo/Andrew Winning, Pool, File)
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The Chinese officials named are current members of Beijing's military establishment, according to an earlier statement by a U.Sl official, who did not identify the companies or industries with which they were engaged.

John Carlin, recently installed as head of the Justice's National Security Division, earlier this year cited prosecution of state-sponsored cyber-threats as a key goal for the Obama administration.

U.S. officials have accused China's army and China-based hackers of launching attacks on American industrial and military targets, often to steal secrets or intellectual property. China has said that it faces a major threat from hackers, and the country's military is believed to be among the biggest targets of the NSA and U.S. Cyber Command.

Last September, President Barack Obama discussed cybersecurity issues on the sidelines of a summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

White House spokesman Ben Rhodes said at the time that Obama had addressed concerns about cyber threats emanating from China. He said Obama told Xi the U.S. sees it not through the prism of security but out of concern over theft of trade secrets.

In late March, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel revealed that the Pentagon planned to more than triple its cybersecurity staff in the next few years to defend against Internet attacks that threaten national security.

Hagel's comments at the National Security Agency headquarters in suburban Washington came as he prepared to visit China.

"Our nation's reliance on cyberspace outpaces our cybersecurity," Hagel said at the time. "Our nation confronts the proliferation of destructive malware and a new reality of steady, ongoing and aggressive efforts to probe, access or disrupt public and private networks, and the industrial control systems that manage our water, and our energy and our food supplies."

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