Chinese Industrial Espionage and Academia
Academia can usually be relied upon to have a passive disloyalty to the Republic, but Professor Xiaoxing Xi was fairly assertive.
Quote:
The chairman of Temple University's physics department was charged Thursday in an alleged scheme to provide sensitive U.S. defense technology to entities in China, including its government.
Federal prosecutors allege Xiaoxing Xi, a world-renowned expert in the field of superconductivity, sought prestigious appointments in China in exchange for sharing information on a device invented by a private company in the United States.
Xi, a 47-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen who lives in Penn Valley, made his initial appearance in U.S. District Court on Thursday on four counts of wire fraud and was released on a $100,000 bond. He had not retained a lawyer and did not return calls for comment.
http://articles.philly.com/2015-05-2...s-china-device
Quote:
Hackers apparently based in China have had access to Pennsylvania State University’s engineering school computers for over two years, the university disclosed on Friday after a lengthy analysis by federal and private investigators.
The breach potentially has exposed research pertaining to technology for the U.S. Defense Department.
The university said it would take the affected computer network offline for several days to root out the hackers.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/penn-sta...ked-1431804110
From 2014 -
Quote:
A prominent Beijing scholar who recently fled to the United States has warned that China was sending "spies" to American universities, and urged US institutions to tread carefully on academic co-operation.
Xia Yeliang is one of the original signatories of Charter 08, a petition for reform whose Nobel Prize-winning lead author Liu Xiaobo is in prison.
Xia, an economist, was fired in October from Peking University. In his first public event since moving to the US last month, Xia said on Thursday he was mindful of the 1950s McCarthy era, when smears of alleged communist sympathies hit the reputations of Americans in government, entertainment and academia.
But Xia, who has been a visiting scholar at several US universities, said he was aware of "real spies" sent by Beijing to the US to carry out surveillance under the guise of academic exchange.
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/artic...over-educating
From 2012 -
Quote:
While overshadowed by espionage against corporations, efforts by foreign countries to penetrate universities have increased in the past five years, Figliuzzi said. The FBI and academia, which have often been at loggerheads, are working together to combat the threat, he said.
Attempts by countries in East Asia, including China, to obtain classified or proprietary information by “academic solicitation,” such as requests to review academic papers or study with professors, jumped eightfold in 2010 from a year earlier, according to a 2011 U.S. Defense Department report. Such approaches from the Middle East doubled, it said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...etected-by-fbi
A guide to Chinese intelligence operations
Hat tip to WoTR for an extensive commentary, with links, by a SME and starts with - even after the OPM "hack":
Quote:
Discussion of China’s intelligence threat often seems over-hyped if not disconnected from reality. Apart from cyber intrusions, little evidence suggests Chinese intelligence deserves the credit for quality that it has received.
Link:http://warontherocks.com/2015/08/a-g...e-operations/?
A month ago the author wrote on the OPM matter:http://warontherocks.com/2015/07/chi...united-states/
Chinese Defector Reveals Beijing’s Secrets
From Bill Gertz, on a unheard website for me. Opens with:
Quote:
A defector from China has revealed some of the innermost secrets of the Chinese government and military, including details of its nuclear command and control system, according to American intelligence officials.
Businessman Ling Wancheng disappeared from public view in California last year shortly after his brother, Ling Jihua, a former high-ranking official in the Communist Party, was arrested in China on corruption charges.
A 'Snowden' in reverse:
Quote:
The defection was triggered by the arrest of Ling’s brother, Ling Jihua, a former presidential aide who secretly obtained some 2,700 internal documents from a special Communist Party unit he headed until 2012.
Link:http://freebeacon.com/national-secur...jings-secrets/
This is not looking good, again for the USN.
A "breaking" story this weekend by John Schindler, as the USN revealed an officer had been in military custody for eight months, charged with espionage whilst serving in ELINT P-3 Orions. The article is critical of the USN following other incidents (IIRC some have appeared on SWC before):http://observer.com/2016/04/amid-sho...er-be-trusted/
Killing C.I.A. Informants, China Crippled U.S. Spying Operations
A NYT report that starts with:
Quote:
The Chinese government systematically dismantled
C.I.A. spying operations in the country starting in 2010, killing or imprisoning more than a dozen sources over two years and crippling intelligence gathering there for years afterward.
Link:https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/05/2...espionage.html
Chinese Spies Engaged in Massive Theft of U.S. Technology
A report by Bill Gertz, ex-WaPo, which uses Congressional testimony as the foundation. Two small quotes:
Quote:
Gone was any dedicated strategic [counterintelligence] program, while elite pockets of proactive capabilities died of neglect....We know surprisingly little about adversary intelligence services relative to the harm they can do.
Link:http://freebeacon.com/national-secur...-s-technology/
France 'probes China spy ring': Two ex-agents reported held
A story that may re-appear one day meantime. Was this discretion or secrecy:
Quote:
The suspects were charged in December, but this has only now come to light.
Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-44250720
Former Defense Intelligence Officer Arrested for Attempted Espionage
An official DoJ press release on 4th June 2018, that starts with:
Quote:
Ron Rockwell Hansen, 58, a resident of Syracuse, Utah, and a former Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) officer, was arrested Saturday afternoon on federal charges including the attempted transmission of national defense information to the People’s Republic of China. The FBI agents took Hansen into custody while he was on his way to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Seattle to board a connecting flight to China.....From May of 2013 to the date of the complaint, Hansen received not less than $800,000 in funds originating from China.
Link:https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/forme...pted-espionage
Ok, four times. This warrants that much derision.
Quote:
Chinese government hackers have compromised the computers of a Navy contractor, stealing massive amounts of highly sensitive data related to undersea warfare — including secret plans to develop a supersonic anti-ship missile for use on U.S. submarines by 2020, according to American officials.
The breaches occurred in January and February, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. The hackers targeted a contractor who works for the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, a military organization headquartered in Newport, R.I., that conducts research and development for submarines and underwater weaponry.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...2b1_story.html
Jury Convicts Former CIA Officer of Espionage
Unable to find a previous post on this case, anyway the DoJ statement starts with:
Quote:
Today, a federal jury convicted Kevin Patrick Mallory, 61, a former Central Intelligence Agency case officer of Leesburg, Virginia, on espionage charges related to his transmission of classified documents to an agent of the People’s Republic of China.
Link:https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/jury-...icer-espionage
Reading between the lines it appears Mr Mallory retained classified documents after leaving government service, which ended his security clearance, in October 2012. In March and April 2017 he traveled to Shanghai to offer his services. I use 'appears' as he was also a contractor.
More details:https://www.lawfareblog.com/accused-...ory-goes-trial
When Rio Tinto Met China’s Iron Hand
A puzzling explanation of how China's agencies intervened to advance economic interests when a multinational tried to assert itself over selling iron ore.
A "taster":
Quote:
In the summer of 2012, MI5 Director-General Jonathan Evans gave a rare public lecture in London’s financial district to warn about the “astonishing” level of state-sponsored online spying. One attack, he said, had cost a British company an estimated £800 million ($1.3 billion) in lost revenue, “not just through intellectual property loss but also from commercial disadvantage in contractual negotiations.”Evans didn’t identify the company or the attacker, but in 2015 the journalist Gordon Corera reported in his book Intercept that the spy chief had been talking about Rio Tinto and China.
Link:https://www.bloomberg.com/news/featu...llar-advantage