The U.S. Navy abandoned efforts to convict a former Kaneohe Bay flight officer of spying for China or Taiwan, striking a plea deal that instead portrays him as arrogant and willing to reveal military secrets to impress women.

The agreement Thursday in Norfolk, Va., was a retreat from last year’s accusations that Taiwanese-born Lt. Cmdr. Edward Chieh-Liang Lin gave or attempted to give classified information to representatives of a foreign government.

When he was arrested at Honolulu Airport in September 2015, Lin was with the highly secretive Special Projects Patrol Squadron 2 (VPU-2) “Wizards” at Kaneohe Bay, whose planes are outfitted with classified sensors. “Special Projects” units have been known to change P-3 Orion aircraft paint schemes and identifying numbers to blend in with other Navy planes.

The squadron and several P-3 aircraft still operate from the Oahu base. Lin was with VPU-2 from Feb. 15, 2014, to March 25, 2016. He also worked for U.S. Pacific Fleet from 2007 to 2009.

The plea deal appears to end the impressive military career of a man who came to America as a teenager and became an American citizen in 1998. Lin, 40, now faces dismissal from the Navy and up to 36 years in prison at his sentencing, scheduled for early June.

During the daylong court-martial in Norfolk, Lin admitted that he failed to disclose friendships with people in Taiwan’s military and connected to its government. He also conceded that he shared defense information with women he said he was trying to impress.

One of them is Janice Chen, an American registered in the United States as a foreign agent of Taiwan’s government, specifically the country’s Democratic Progressive Party.

Lin said he and Chen often discussed news articles she emailed him about military affairs. He admitted that he shared classified information about the Navy’s Pacific Fleet.

He also divulged secrets to a woman named “Katherine Wu,” whom he believed worked as a contractor for Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She actually was an undercover FBI agent. Navy Times reported that in meetings at Starbucks, Lin told Wu information about the mission and capabilities of the covert VPU-2 “Wizards.”

“I was trying to let her know that the military profession in the United States is an honorable and noble one,” Lin told Cmdr. Robert Monahan, the military judge. Lin said the military is less prestigious in Taiwan.

Lin also had friends with other connections, including a woman living in China whom he met online, and a Chinese national massage therapist who moved to Hawaii. Lin said he gave the massage therapist a “large sum of money” at one point, although he didn’t say why. Navy Times said Lin was separated from his wife at the time.

Lin also admitted to lying to superiors about flying to Taiwan and planning to visit China. But he said he did it only to avoid the bureaucracy that a U.S. military official must endure when traveling to a foreign country. Lin was arrested at Honolulu Airport as he attempted to board a flight to China, Navy Times said.

“Sir, I was arrogant,” he told the judge.

A Navy news story about a speech Lin gave in December 2008 to new citizens in Hawaii said he was 14 when he and his family left Taiwan.

“I always dreamt about coming to America, the ‘promised land,’” Lin was quoted as saying. “I grew up believing that all the roads in America lead to Disneyland.”

The Associated Press and Honolulu Star-Advertiser reporter William Cole contributed to this report.