Politics Espionage and Spying

[BravoZulu]

Former CIA Officer Pleads Guilty to Chinese Espionage Conspiracy

Former CIA operations officer Jerry Chun Shing Lee pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiracy to commit espionage for China in a case linked to the loss of numerous recruited CIA spies in China.
Lee, 54, a naturalized U.S. citizen living in Hong Kong, supplied documents and information to Chinese intelligence officers from April 26, 2010, to Jan. 15, 2018 when he was arrested, according to court papers in the case.
The former spy handler initially had pleaded not guilty. The plea deal avoids what was expected to be a lengthy trial that may have risked further exposing CIA secrets Lee supplied to China.
Lee faces a maximum sentence of life in prison for the charge. Sentencing in the case was set for Aug. 23.
The case is one of three Chinese espionage-related cases in recent months as part of a Trump administration crackdown on Beijing's intelligence operations.
G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said Americans entrusted with the government’s most closely held secrets have a tremendous responsibility to safeguard secret information.
"Instead of embracing that responsibility and honoring his commitment to not disclose national defense information, Lee sold out his country, conspired to become a spy for a foreign government, and then repeatedly lied to investigators about his conduct," Terwilliger said in a statement announcing the plea deal.
"This prosecution should serve as a warning to others who would compromise our nation’s secrets and betray our country’s trust."
Edward MacMahon, Lee's lawyer, declined to comment on the case.

More:
https://freebeacon.com/national-sec...ail&utm_term=0_b5e6e0e9ea-2b8c0e3b9d-45610777

 

[BravoZulu]

From Dec 2018, original thread is here: https://militaryimages.net/threads/us-canada-military-news-discussion-thread.7265/page-9

Chinese Intelligence Officer Charged with Economic Espionage Involving Theft of Trade Secrets from Leading U.S. Aviation Companies

A Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) operative, Yanjun Xu, aka Qu Hui, aka Zhang Hui, has been arrested and charged with conspiring and attempting to commit economic espionage and steal trade secrets from multiple U.S. aviation and aerospace companies. Xu was extradited to the United States yesterday.

The charges were announced today by Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio Benjamin C. Glassman, Assistant Director Bill Priestap of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division, and Special Agent in Charge Angela L. Byers of the FBI’s Cincinnati Division.

“This indictment alleges that a Chinese intelligence officer sought to steal trade secrets and other sensitive information from an American company that leads the way in aerospace,” said Assistant Attorney General Demers. “This case is not an isolated incident. It is part of an overall economic policy of developing China at American expense. We cannot tolerate a nation’s stealing our firepower and the fruits of our brainpower. We will not tolerate a nation that reaps what it does not sow.”

“Innovation in aviation has been a hallmark of life and industry in the United States since the Wright brothers first designed gliders in Dayton more than a century ago,” said U.S. Attorney Glassman. “U.S. aerospace companies invest decades of time and billions of dollars in research. This is the American way. In contrast, according to the indictment, a Chinese intelligence officer tried to acquire that same, hard-earned innovation through theft. This case shows that federal law enforcement authorities can not only detect and disrupt such espionage, but can also catch its perpetrators. The defendant will now face trial in federal court in Cincinnati.”

"This unprecedented extradition of a Chinese intelligence officer exposes the Chinese government's direct oversight of economic espionage against the United States,” said Assistant Director Priestap.

Yanjun Xu is a Deputy Division Director with the MSS’s Jiangsu State Security Department, Sixth Bureau. The MSS is the intelligence and security agency for China and is responsible for counter-intelligence, foreign intelligence and political security. MSS has broad powers in China to conduct espionage both domestically and abroad.

Xu was arrested in Belgium on April 1, pursuant to a federal complaint, and then indicted by a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Ohio. The government unsealed the charges today, following his extradition to the United States. The four-count indictment charges Xu with conspiring and attempting to commit economic espionage and theft of trade secrets.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/chin...pionage-involving-theft-trade-secrets-leading

 

[Buster23]

Hmmm, China allowed its intelligence officer get extradited to the US?

US may got the spy but the trade secret (technology) is already in China's hands...good trade indeed.

 

[BravoZulu]

UCLA PROFESSOR STOLE MISSILE SECRETS FOR CHINA, FACES 219 YEARS IN PRISON

A California-based electrical engineer has been found guilty of attempting to export sensitive military electronics to China and could face more than two centuries behind bars.

Yi-Chi Shih, 64—a part-time professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)—was convicted on 18 federal charges last week, linked to a plot to illegally obtain microchips from an American company and export them to China, where they could be used in a range of military systems including missiles and fighter jets.

The Department of Justice announced Tuesday that Shih faces a faces a statutory maximum sentence of 219 years in prison. A co-defendant—Kiet Ahn Mai of Pasadena, California—had already pleaded guilty to smuggling charges linked to the plan in December.

Shih posed as a customer to acquire the hardware—so-called monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs)—from an unnamed U.S. company.

The MMICs were then shipped to Chinese company called Chengdu GaStone Technology (CGTC), where Shih had previously served as president. The firm was in the process of building its own MMICs factory, the DOJ press release said.

Such technology cannot be exported without Commerce Department authorization, which Shih did not have. MMICs are sensitive because of their use in a range of commercial and military applications, including missiles, missile guidance systems, fighter jets, radar and electronic warfare.

The company targeted by Shih and Mai is a supplier for the Air Force, Navy and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), among others.

Furthermore, CGTC has been on the Commerce Department's "Entity List" since 2014, marking it as a national security threat and requiring official authorization before any American technology can be sold to the company. The DOJ noted that the company had been "involved in the illicit procurement of commodities and items for unauthorized military end use in China."

The six-week trial found Shih guilty of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, mail fraud, wire fraud, false tax returns, false statements to a government agency and conspiracy to commit cybertheft, the DOJ press release explained. A date for sentencing has not yet been set.
https://www.newsweek.com/ucla-profe...rets-china-219-years-prison-espionage-1447286

 

[Buster23]

Man, they (chinese) are everywhere...I have visited a lot of countries (some less known) lately, you will always see chinese in droves in the airport, in the city, and in tourist places...it is like they are mapping the whole world and establishing operating centers everywhere...or I guess I am just paranoid...

 

[BravoZulu]

Navy lieutenant, Chinese national connected to FBI raid in Jacksonville
Agents with the FBI and NCIS raided a San Jose neighborhood home Thursday owned by a Navy lieutenant who was arrested Thursday and accused of a federal gun charge.

According to a federal complaint affidavit obtained by News4Jax, Fan Yang and Yang Yang, who are both listed as the owners of the home on Salamanca Ave., were arrested and accused of conspiracy to violate federal law, specifically prohibitions on firearm possession by an alien admitted under nonimmigrant visa and transfer of a firearm to a nonresident between March 2017 and Sept. 2019. Fan Yang is a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Anti-Submarine Warfare unit at NAS Jacksonville and has top security clearances.

Ge Song Toa, a Chinese national with connections to the couple, faces the same charge.

The Justice Department confirmed Friday that Fan Yang and Yang Yang were in custody pending a detention hearing. Fan Yang also faces charges of making false statement to a firearms dealer and making false statements within the executive branch's jurisdiction, according to a criminal complaint.

According to records, Ge Song Tao was arrested Thursday in Louisiana and was being held Friday at the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center.

The complaint alleges that Fan Yang was being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by Ge Song Toa in a business relationship that Fan Yang tried to conceal from the Navy and the Department of Defense.

Lt. Yang and his wife created a company called BQ Tree LLC in 2015 and that company received $205,000 in wire transfers from a Chinese company called Shanghai Breeze Technology, a known associate of Ge Song Tao, according to the complaint.

Shanghai Breeze paid Lt. Yang to handle business operations in the United States and that business included “firearms tourism,” according to the FBI. Lt. Yang contacted a business in Orlando, to pitch to them the idea of bringing Chinese nationals to the U.S. for firearms training, according to the complaint.

Firearms tourism caters to tourists from countries with strict gun control and gives them the opportunity to fire weapons they have only seen in the movies.

The FBI said Lt. Yang was being paid $5,000 a month by a Chinese company to pursue business interests in the U.S.

In an email sent in 2017 from Yang to the owner of a business in Orlando, Yang writes:

"We can organize an International Practical Shooting Confederation sport shooting course for you. Let us know the time line you would like and I can give you dates for the first group. Approximate cost would be $600 per person per day of training including equipment, ammunition and firearms.. Hotels are a 45 minute drive from Orlando International Airports.

In another email, Fang writes:

“My understanding is that it’s legal for foreign nationals to shoot firearms at a range as long as the owner, or a representative is present. We are in the planning stage, so I’m requesting a 3, 5 and 7 day customized course for 10 to 20 people. They will all be Chinese Nationals.

Under question, according to the complaint, is a trip that Lt. Yang took to Nebraska in 2018. According to the complaint, Lt. Yang told his superior officers he was going to Walt Disney World in Orlando for the weekend, but instead he flew to South Sioux City, Neb. As a lieutenant, he’s required to notify his command if he travels more than 400 miles away from NAS Jacksonville.

The FBI also learned that Lt. Yang bought a one-way airplane ticket from nearby Omaha to an unknown location for Ge Song Tao the same weekend. The complaint does not say whether or not the two men met during the trip.

Lt. Yang also bought a 9mm handgun for Ge Song Tao in 2017 and that gun wound up at a storage facility in Fleming Island, according to the complaint. A confidential informant told the FBI that Lt. Yang and Ge Song Tao went to a shooting range in Orange Park in 2018 four or five times and spent hours shooting, according to the FBI. The FBI said it seized the gun in a raid on Sept. 24.

When Lt. Yang sought to have his top secret security clearance renewed in January 2019, the FBI said he lied about his connection to China and Ge Song Tao. Specifically, when asked if he had any contacts with foreign nationals or if he had any foreign financial interests, Lt. Yang answered “no,” according to the complaint.

Lt. Yang is a naturalized U.S citizen who came to the country in 1999, joined the Navy in 2005 and became a citizen in 2006. He left the Navy in 2007, but re-enlisted in 2012 and quickly obtained his top secret security clearance. He’s a flight officer onboard one of the Navy’s P-8A planes.

Ge Song Tao arrived in the U.S. in 2016 on a visa that’s good until 2026.
https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/jacksonville/fbi-raids-home-in-san-jose-neighborhood

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[BravoZulu]

New twist in federal case involving Navy lieutenant, Chinese nationals
The FBI investigation into a Jacksonville Navy lieutenant with connections to Chinese nationals added a new twist Friday.

According to a criminal complaint obtained by News4Jax, another arrest was made in a separate investigation with ties to Jacksonville Lt. Fan Yang, a Chinese-born man who became an officer with the U.S. Navy.

Zheng Yan, 27, has been accused of conspiracy to violate federal law for smuggling U.S.-made vessels, flash drives other and equipment that was bound for the Chinese government.

Zheng Yan is named in the United States District Court complaint along with Lt. Yang and Yang Yang. Ge Song Toa, a Chinese national with connections to the Yang's and Zheng Yan, is also facing multiple charges.

Lt. Lang and Yang Yang were both arrested Thursday and accused of conspiracy to violate federal law, specifically prohibitions on firearm possession by an alien admitted under nonimmigrant visa and transfer of a firearm to a nonresident between March 2017 and Sept. 2019. Their home in San Jose was raided by the FBI and NCIS on Thursday.

The case could have bigger implication because Lt. Yang is a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Anti-Submarine Warfare unit at NAS Jacksonville and had top security clearances.

Zheng Yan, a resident of the People's Republic of China also known as "the Mistress," and Yang Yang are accused of trying to buy multiple inflatable boats that were to be sent to the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries Bureau, according to court documents. The vessels and engines were valued at $266,000.

According to a series of emails reviewed by investigators, Yang Yang corresponded with a California-based marine manufacturer about buying the military-grade boat engines. Yang Yang and Fan Yang said in a recording obtained by the FBI that the end user was to be the People's Republic of China. In another recorded conversation, Yang Yang said that because the California company makes vessels for the U.S. Navy, the company may be prohibited from selling its products to China, according to the complaint. She noted the U.S. and China are not allies.

A search of government shipping records showed there have been about 24 exports, including at least 10 vessels, sent from the U.S. to Shanghai Breeze Technology in Shanghai, a company with ties to Ge Song Tao.

Some of the exports were facilitated by BQ Tree in Jacksonville, a company started by Lt. Yang and his wife Yang Yang, from March 2017 to Jan. 2017, according to the complaint.

"The reality is, the Chinese government can't get them unless it's through a third party, a straw man," said Jacksonville attorney Randy Reep. "Phony companies or U.S. citizens who are willing to buy from a company and ship them out."

Another component to the investigation is the alleged export of flash drives and the data they might have contained.

"My concern would be those flash drives," Reep said. "We'll see if that comes to fruition, but if I'm the one investigating the case, that's what I'm concerned about."

According to records, Ge Song Tao and Zheng Yan were arrested Thursday in Louisiana and was being held Friday at the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center.

The Justice Department confirmed Friday that Fan Yang and Yang Yang were in custody pending a detention hearing.

Lt. Yang also faces charges of making a false statement to a firearms dealer and making false statements within the executive branch's jurisdiction, according to a separate criminal complaint.

The complaint alleges that Lt. Yang was being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by Ge Song Toa in a business relationship that Fan Yang tried to conceal from the Navy and the Department of Defense.

Former FBI agent Toni Chrabot who now runs the Risk Confidence Group believes federal investigators will focus heavily on Fang Yang because he had top military security clearance while assigned to a sensitive anti-submarine warfare unit.

Lt. Yang and his wife created BQ Tree LLC in 2015 and that company received $205,000 in wire transfers from Shanghai Breeze Technology.

Shanghai Breeze paid Lt. Yang to handle business operations in the United States and that business included "firearms tourism," according to the FBI.
https://www.news4jax.com/news/local...ase-against-navy-lieutenant-chinese-nationals

 

[digrar]

Paramilitary Operations Officer — Central Intelligence Agency

CIA Paramilitary Operations Officers (PMOO) join a select cadre that is motivated by camaraderie and selfless service. PMOOs lead and manage Covert Action programs, at the direction of President of the United States, collect Foreign Intelligence vital to national security policy makers, and take...

www.cia.gov

Jobs on, if you're keen.

 

[Buster23]

Got this from Devil Child's thread...

Ex-CIA officer Kevin Mallory sentenced to 20 years for spying for China

Former special agent jailed for selling classified US ‘defence information’ for $25,000 in 2017

An ex-CIA officer was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Friday for spying for China in a case called part of an “alarming trend” in the US intelligence community.
Kevin Mallory, 62, was convicted under the Espionage Act for selling classified US “defence information” to a Chinese intelligence agent for $25,000 during trips to Shanghai in March and April 2017.
“Your object is to gain information, and my object is to be paid,” he told the Chinese agent in a 5 May 2017 message.

Ex-CIA officer Kevin Mallory sentenced to 20 years for spying for China

Former special agent jailed for selling classified US ‘defence information’ for $25,000 in 2017

www.theguardian.com

 

[haze99]

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us...-sharing-military-data-with-china-2024-01-08/