Bloomberg warns that the Chinese are taking advantage of U.S. intelligence resources overwhelmed by the War on Terror and Iraq to acquire sensitive U.S. military technology:
In a Santa Ana, California, courtroom, 66-year-old engineer Chi Mak listens to federal prosecutors describe how he and his family stole secrets from his employer, L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. The alleged target: data about Navy submarine engines that run silently to avoid detection.
U.S. intelligence officials say the Mak case is unusual — not in the nature of the charges brought against him, but that charges were brought at all.
For every person caught and accused of passing U.S. military and trade secrets to China, they say, scores of others go undetected. Taking advantage of an outmanned counterintelligence effort drained and distracted by the wars in Iraq and against al-Qaeda, current and former officials say, China has systematically managed to gain sensitive information on U.S. nuclear bombs and ship and missile designs.
“Iraq and the struggle with terrorism are sucking resources across the board,” says Joel Brenner, the top counterintelligence official in the office of Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell. Meanwhile, “the Chinese are really making a run at us.”
The Hanguk Ilbo summarized the piece in Korean (the Koreans, after all, have been—or at least perceive themselves to be—a major target of Chinese espionage activities), and included a snazzy table—based on a Pentagon annual briefing—of U.S. espionage suspects as of late 2006. Out of a grand total of 971 cases, some 31 percent of the accused spies were from East Asia, while 23 percent were from the Middle East, 19 percent from Eurasia (read: Russia), 13 percent from South Asia and 14 percent from “other.”
Personally, while I agree that the United States should recognize what’s going on be extra vigilant about Chinese espionage activities, I also happened to concur with Henry Kissinger, who wisely pointed out in 1999 [NYT]:
We should be adult enough to understand that major countries are going to be spying on us. I’m assuming that we are spying on China. That should not in itself affect diplomatic relations.
8 Comments
Yes, there was also the case of the New Jersey junkyard last year that was run by some brothers of Italian extraction who were about to sell parts of a Sidewinder missile to the Chinese until the Customs Department caught them.
I wish Homeland Security would focus on the Chinese — who have been forcibly enlisting, if needed, thousands of Chinese working abroad to commit espionage, instead of giving people a hard time over their damned toothpaste.
Idiots . . .
I’m sure folks in government would know better, but according to an article published in recent years in a reputable academic journal dealing specifically with the study of intelligence, a former US intelligence official noted that the countries that have spied the most on the US in recent years have been its allies, most notably Great Britain, Japan, South Korea and Israel.
Mingi wrote:
“the countries that have spied the most on the US in recent years have been its allies, most notably Great Britain, Japan, South Korea and Israel.”
It’s not quantity but quality and end user. Israel has sold some of its US-acquired technology to China. I’ve not heard of the other countries passing along sensitive technology to our rivals. With South Korea, the issue is the possibility of North Korea overtly or covertly getting its hands on US intelligence acquired by South Korea. This is what Robert “I was only trying to help an ally and didn’t do any harm” Kim failed to acknowledge.
You have to like Henry “Realpolitik” Kissinger’s thesis, like it’s no big deal if the Chinamen steal a warhead design here or a guidance system there. It’s all just part of the great game.
Hey, Henry Kissinger is the well-known panda hugger.
Ah … today it’s state secrets to complain about, but tomorrow (say 30 or 40 years from now), you’ll be sitting around the local pub ranting about how those dirty foreign Chinese language teachers are corrupting the youth with Eastern values and stealing your women.
On the less inflammatory points made earlier in the thread, I am not surprised that other ostensibly allied or friendly nations spy on us. Dr. Kissinger was right, but his quotation failed to express the reasons.
The analysts will tell you that “capabilities matter more than intentions.” Why? Intentions can change in an instant, but capabilities can’t. That’s why you watch the 300 lb bruiser closely, even if he says he’s your friend, but ignore the 120 lb weakling who’s your open adversary. The bruiser can change his mind in a flash, but the weakling can’t grow muscles overnight.
So it is with nations.
Most nations on this planet, including the Vatican, has an intelligence service. I’m sure everyone knows what intelligence service does for a living.
The mainland Chinese espionage efforts is pretty spread out between civilian and miltiary targets abroad. The methods they use is quite primitive and has been described as a “sponge” in soaking up little bits and pieces from a wide field. It’s a low-tech, cost-effective means of collecting useful industrial & military information.
Some Western intelligence agencies have been very confused with Chinese “opportunistic” espionage methods in the past. Instead of “James Bond”, you find many untrained amateurs in the field trying to collect and ship stuff to China for a quick buck.