http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-17-china-espionage_x.htm
China broadens espionage operations
Posted 5/17/2006 11:57 PM ET
By John Diamond, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — China is running aggressive and
wide-ranging espionage operations aimed at
stealing U.S. weapons technology that could be
useful against U.S. forces, according to the nation's top spy-catchers.
U.S. counterintelligence officials have also
detected an expansion of spy networks run by
Russia, Cuba and Iran targeting the U.S.
government and, in the case of Iran, U.S.
military technology, according to Timothy
Bereznay, assistant director of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division.
China, however, has emerged as the leading
espionage threat, Bereznay and Stephen Bogni, a
senior investigator for U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE), said in separate interviews.
China has "put out a shopping list" of weapons
and components it is seeking to arms dealers and
middlemen, Bogni said. These middlemen, often
ethnic Chinese, operate out of shell companies in
the USA, he said. The list includes night-vision
gear, radar-evading and radar- and
communications-jamming equipment, missile-guidance systems and torpedoes.
On Wednesday, one accused Chinese spy, Taiwanese
businessman Ko-Suen "Bill" Moo, pleaded guilty to
charges he tried to buy military parts and
weapons, including an F-16 fighter jet engine and cruise missiles.
ESPIONAGE: A growing business
ICE officials said Moo attempted to buy from
undercover agents an AGM-129 cruise missile,
which can carry nuclear warheads 2,300 miles.
The possibility of a U.S.-Chinese military
confrontation over Taiwan looms in the background
of the espionage, said Ronald Guerin, the FBI's East Asia section chief.
In a nightmare scenario, China could use U.S.
technology to sink a U.S. aircraft carrier
positioned to block a Chinese move against
Taiwan, Guerin said. "We have to really worry
about our technology being used against our (own)
warfighter. That's a losing proposition," Guerin
said. "This is a threat to the national security of the United States."
A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy did not return a call seeking comment.
Counterintelligence is a highly secret sector of
intelligence and law enforcement, involving
criminal investigations and classified or
sensitive information. Bereznay and other
officials said they were willing to discuss it on
the record to draw attention to what they regard
as an emerging national security threat.
The FBI has arrested 25 Chinese nationals or
Chinese Americans in cases involving the
targeting of U.S. technology in the past two
years, an unprecedented level of espionage
compared to prior years, Guerin said. Most of the
cases involve alleged theft of sensitive
technology. ICE has initiated more than 400
investigations since 2000 involving illicit
export of U.S. arms and strategic technology to
China, according to agency statistics.
The emerging espionage threat involves business
people, trade representatives and academics in
the USA ostensibly for legitimate purposes,
Bereznay said. Sometimes the technology they
target is highly sensitive but not yet
classified, requiring the government to prosecute
export violations rather than espionage
"Foreign collectors don't wait until something is
classified," Bereznay said. "They're targeting it
at the R&D (research and development) phase."
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Received on Sat Mar 02 2024 - 00:57:19 CST