Tiger Trap

by David Wise

  [>]there were discussions between Los Angeles and Washington "about whether more serious espionage charges were supported by the evidence": Emmick interview, January 9, 2009.

  [>]"When a case has high-level attention, it follows that high-level people will be involved in the decision making": Lonergan interview, August 24, 2009, and e-mail, August 31, 2009. Lonergan quotes that follow are from the same interview and e-mail.

  [>]"We wanted to reduce the risk of being graymailed": Emmick interview, January 9, 2009, and e-mail, August 22, 2009.

  [>]"when you declassify, you lose jury appeal": Emmick interview, June 18, 2009.

  [>]"an agent for the PRC," and ... "she began to work for the Ministry of State Security ('MSS')": United States v. Katrina Leung, Memorandum of Points and Authorities, pp. 7–8.

  [>]"admitted that she provided intelligence she gained in this manner to the MSS": RT, p. 15.

  [>]The judge decided on no jail time for J.J. Smith: "Ex-F.B.I. Agent Convicted," New York Times, July 19, 2005, p. A16.

  [>]It charged that she had failed to pay taxes on at least $435,000 ... she had received from the FBI: RT, p. 26.

  [>]the complaint charged that she had paid no taxes on $1.2 million that Nortel had paid to her: Ibid., p. 22.

  [>]the government contended that Leung had engaged in a tax scheme to take annual deductions on mortgage interest of about $40,000 on her home: Ibid., pp. 22–23.

  [>]She pleaded guilty to lying about her love affair with J.J.... In addition, she pleaded guilty to failing to report $35,000 in income from the FBI: United States v. Katrina Leung, Plea Agreement, pp. 8–9, December 13, 2005; David Rosenzweig, "Judge OKs Plea Deal in Spy Case," Los Angeles Times, December 17, 2005, p. B3.

  [>]PARLOR MAID stood before Judge Cooper for the last time: Judge Florence-Marie Cooper died seven years later on January 15, 2010, at age sixty-nine, after suffering a stroke. Los Angeles Times, January 16, 2010, Metro, p. 26.

  [>]"I love America": Linda Deutsch, "Ex-FBI Informant Takes Deal in Spy Case," Associated Press, December 17, 2005.

  [>]"With my luck the judge's husband just ran off with his thirty year old secretary and I'll get five years breaking rocks": This and following quotes are from an e-mail J.J. Smith sent to friends May 21, 2004, United States v. James J. Smith, Exhibit 2.

  [>]"As though I were put in the cosmos to take care of her": Kam Leung interview, June 25, 2003.

  19. EAGLE CLAW

  [>]The FBI learned that an American spying for China, his identity not yet certain, had stayed in room 533 of the Qianmen Hotel in Beijing: Tom Carson interview, September 18, 2009.

  [>]the FBI searched his luggage at Dulles International Airport and found a key to room 533: Ibid.

  [>]he was hired as a translator for an Army liaison office in Fuzhou, China: Chin biographical details from Tod Hoffman, The Spy Within: Larry Chin and China's Penetration of the CIA (Hanover, NH: Steerforth Press, 2008), pp. 47–48.

  [>]he passed that information to the Chinese, for which he was paid $2,000: Stephen Engelberg, "The Multiple Characters of Suspect in Spy Case," New York Times, December 8, 1985.

  [>]he met with his Chinese handler, Ou Qiming: Ibid., and Hoffman, Spy Within, pp. 158, 237.

  [>]Chin later said he might not have passed if the questions had been asked in Chinese: Stephen Engelberg, "Man Accused of Spying Passed His Only Lie Test," New York Times, February 4, 1986, p. A17.

  [>]he explained his wealth by saying that he played blackjack and was an expert card counter: Ruth Marcus, "Accused Spy's Property Valued at $700,000," Washington Post, January 11, 1986, p. A4.

  [>]he squirreled them in his clothing or briefcase and walked out of the building: Hoffman, Spy Within, p. 173.

  [>]Chin ... passed the films to Chinese agents in a series of meetings in a Toronto shopping mall: Carlyle Murphy, "Chin's Motives Debated at Spy Trial's Opening," Washington Post, February 5, 1986, p. A16.

  [>]The meal included "Bears' feet" and "muttonpot": Carlyle Murphy, "Chin: 'Nothing to Regret,'" Washington Post, February 11, 1986, p. A5.

  [>]classified memos on President Nixon's secret preparations in 1971 for the historic opening to China: Carlyle Murphy, "Accused Spy Says He Meant to Promote U.S., China Ties," Washington Post, February 7, 1986, p. A11.

  [>]the agency's deputy director, Bobby Inman, personally presented the Career Intelligence Medal to Chin at a retirement ceremony: Hoffman, Spy Within, p. 43.

  [>]A week later, Chin flew to Hong Kong, met with a Chinese intelligence contact, and was paid $40,000: Murphy, "Chin's Motives Debated at Spy Trial's Opening."

  [>]His name was Yu Zhensan: Hoffman, Spy Within, p. 19.

  [>]Yu's father had reportedly been married to Jiang Qing: Kenneth J. Schiffer interview, August 13, 2009.

  [>]He contacted the CIA and warned the agency that Beijing had a spy inside American intelligence: Ibid.

  [>]Smith gave Yu Zhensan the code name PLANESMAN: I. C. Smith interview, August 26, 2008.

  [>]Yu Zhensan ... said that the mole had flown to Beijing on a Pan Am flight that left New York: Schiffer interview, August 13, 2009; Carson interview, September 19, 2009.

  [>]The passenger was Larry Wu-Tai Chin: Schiffer interview, August 13, 2009.

  [>]"We delayed the flight at Dulles enough to take the luggage": Carson interview, September 18, 2009.

  [>]"We found the hotel key.... It turned out to be the smoking gun": Ibid.

  [>]Chin suggested to Ou that the Chinese might want to try to recruit Victoria Liu Morton, a woman he had known at the CIA: Carson interview, September 18, 2009; Murphy, "Chin's Motives Debated at Spy Trial's Opening."

  [>]a Chinese sleeper agent named Father Mark Cheung, a Roman Catholic priest: Carson interview, September 18, 2009.

  [>]"Mark Cheung was a real priest": Ibid.

  [>]"He rifled his colleague's desk": Schiffer interview, August 13, 2009.

  [>]he bought a copy of The Puzzle Palace: Hoffman, Spy Within, pp. 61–62.

  [>]A moment later the wiretap picked up Cathy screaming, "He's killing me! He's killing me!": Hoffman, Spy Within, p. 58.

  [>]it was not a spying device, but a sex toy, a battery-operated vibrator: I. C. Smith, Inside: A Top G-Man Exposes Spies, Lies, and Bureaucratic Bungling in the FBI (Nashville, TN: Nelson Current, 2004), p. 41.

  [>]"We sat on the case—we could not move on Chin for about a year until PLANESMAN got out": Schiffer interview, August 13, 2009.

  [>]Late in the afternoon of November 22, 1985, the trio knocked on the door of Chin's condominium in Alexandria: Hoffman, Spy Within, pp. 118, 121.

  [>]"He realized somebody on the inside had betrayed him": Schiffer interview, August 13, 2009.

  [>]"You have details that only Ou knew": Stephen Engelberg, "High Chinese Defector Is Linked to Spy Charges against Analyst," New York Times, January 1, 1986.

  [>]"He thought Ou Qiming had defected and was the one who had dimed him out": Schiffer interview, August 13, 2009.

  [>]Chin took the stand during the four-day trial, and claimed he had spied to improve relations between the United States and China: Murphy, "Accused Spy Says He Meant to Promote U.S., China Ties."

  [>]because Ou was in prison: Murphy, "Chin's Motives Debated at Spy Trial's Opening,"

  [>]"stealing documents from the CIA and giving them to the Chinese?": Murphy, "Accused Spy Says He Meant to Promote U.S., China Ties."

  [>]He had tied a plastic trash bag over his head with a shoelace: Carlyle Murphy, "Spy Larry Chin Dies in Apparent Suicide," Washington Post, February 22, 1986, p. A1.

  [>]"So, Little Fish, don't worry about me": Hoffman, Spy Within, p. 267.

  20. RED FLOWER

  [>]"I work for Red Flower of North America": Edward M. Roche, Snake Fish: The Chi Mak Spy Ring (New York: Barraclough Ltd., 2008), p. 3.

  [>]The phone call to Zhongshan ... was answered by Pu Pei-Liang: Bill Gertz, "Fumbled China Spy Probe an Intelligence Failure," Washington Times, September 18, 2006, p. A1; for back
ground on Pu, see Roche, Snake Fish, pp. 134, 143.

  [>]had been secretly passing sensitive Navy data on US weapons systems to China for more than twenty years: Gillian Flaccus, "Brothers Accused of Being Agents for China Are Denied Bond," Associated Press, November 29, 2005.

  [>]the Quiet Electric Drive, or QED, a propulsion system designed to allow the Navy's submarines to run silent: Roche, Snake Fish, pp. 12, 197.

  [>]"are certainly against the law": FBI special agent James E. Gaylord affidavit, in support of complaint and arrest and search warrants for Chi Mak, Tai Mak, and their wives, p. 15.

  [>]The FBI concluded that these were "tasking lists" from Chinese military intelligence: Ibid., p. 11.

  [>]after Chi Mak was arrested he admitted passing to China ... data about the Aegis combat system: David J. Lynch, "Law Enforcement Struggles to Combat Chinese Spying," USA Today, July 23, 2007, p. A1.

  [>]Chi Mak, his wife, and his brother were indicted: United States v. Chi Mak, US District Court for the Central District of California, MJ-05-394, November 15, 2005.

  [>]none of it was classified: John Pomfret, "Engineer Indicted As Chinese Agent; Case Didn't Meet Espionage Standard," Washington Post, November 16, 2005, p. A3.

  [>]surprise testimony that tied Chi Mak to Dongfan "Greg" Chung: Roche, Snake Fish, pp. 87–88.

  [>]Chung, an engineer who worked at the Boeing plant in Huntington Beach on the space shuttle: Indictment, United States v. Dongfan "Greg" Chung, US District Court for the Central District of California, SACR 08-00024-CJC, February 6, 2008, p. 5.

  [>]"I hope these products will be flying sky high soon": Roche, Snake Fish, p. 88.

  [>]"This channel is much safer than the others": Quoted in Lynch, "Law Enforcement Struggles to Combat Chinese Spying."

  [>]the jury ... found Chi Mak guilty: H. G. Reza, "Engineer Guilty of Trying to Give Documents to China": Los Angeles Times, May 11, 2007, p. B3.

  [>]"I am regretful for not contributing anything": Indictment, United States v. Dongfan "Greg" Chung, p. 8.

  [>]"We are all moved by your patriotism": Ibid., p. 9.

  [>]the Chinese sent him elaborate tasking lists, with detailed questions: Ibid., pp. 12–13.

  [>]the Chinese asked for "aircraft design manuals": United States v. Dongfan "Greg" Chung, Memorandum of Decision, US District Judge Cormac J. Carney, July 16, 2009, p. 10.

  [>]He looked forward to a trip "of several weeks to take a good look at the motherland with my own eyes": Ibid., pp. 8–9.

  [>]"It is your honor and China's fortune": Indictment, United States v. Dongfan "Greg" Chung, p. 15.

  [>]"collect information on ... the development of the space shuttle": United States v. Dongfan "Greg" Chung, Memorandum of Decision, p. 11.

  [>]a "small setting, which is very safe": Ibid.

  [>]as a cover story for his trip: Ibid.

  [>]they were astonished to find three hundred thousand pages of Boeing documents: Dan Whitcomb, "Ex-Boeing Engineer Guilty in Space Shuttle Spy Case," Reuters, July 16, 2009.

  [>]"He was a spy for the PRC": United States v. Dongfan "Greg" Chung, Memorandum of Decision, p. 5.

  [>]"purely a fabrication": "China Dismisses US Spy Charges as Fabrication," Agence France-Presse, July 20, 2009.

  [>]he was sentenced to fifteen years and eight months in prison: Department of Justice, "Former Boeing Engineer Sentenced to Nearly 16 Years in Prison for Stealing Aerospace Secrets for China," press release, February 8, 2010.

  [>]"stop sending your spies here": Don Whitcomb, "Ex-Boeing Engineer Gets 15 Years in Spy Case," Reuters, February 8, 2010.

  [>]The three people arrested in February 2008: Jerry Markon, "Defense Official Is Charged in Chinese Espionage Case," Washington Post, February 12, 2008, p. A1.

  [>]Bergersen, fifty-one, longed after he retired to move into the world of "beltway bandits": Neil A. Lewis, "Spy Cases Raise Concern on China's Intentions," New York Times, July 10, 2008, p. A1.

  [>]"where I can pay you three, four-hundred thousand a year, you come out": United States v. Tai Shen Kuo, US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, 08-CR-179, Statement of Facts, May 18, 2008, pp. 2–3.

  [>]"his associate introduced him to Lin Hong": Plato Cacheris and John F. Hundley interview, October 2, 2009.

  [>]"It didn't take him long to realize that Lin was in the Chinese government": Hundley interview, October 2, 2009.

  [>]Yu Xin Kang moved to New Orleans in 2007 to work as a secretary for Kuo: United States v. Tai Shen Kuo, Statement of Facts, p. 3.

  [>]Kuo handed Bergersen $3,000 in cash to play poker: Ibid., p. 9.

  [>]"I don't want CIA, I got CIA's paper": United States v. Tai Shen Kuo, Gregg William Bergersen and Yu Xin Kang, Affidavit in Support of Criminal Complaint, February 6, 2008, p. 18.

  [>]"I don't wanna go to jail": Ibid., p. 21.

  [>]his wife went through his wallet: Ibid., pp. 24–25.

  [>]He was sentenced to almost sixteen years, later reduced to five for cooperating with prosecutors: Department of Justice, "New Orleans Man Sentenced to More Than 15 Years in Prison for Espionage Involving China," press release, August 8, 2008; "La. Man Who Spied for China Gets Sentence Slashed," Associated Press, June 25, 2010.

  [>]whom he gave the code name Fang: United States v. James Wilbur Fondren Jr., 09-CR-263, Affidavit in Support of Criminal Complaint, May 11, 2009, p. 5.

  [>]Fondren replied, "I can't talk about uh—that stuff over the phone": Ibid., p. 11.

  [>]"Let people find out I did that, it will cost me my job": Ibid.

  [>]"didn't take notes": United States v. James Wilbur Fondren Jr., Superseding Indictment, p. 19.

  [>]The chief witness against him ... was Tai Shen Kuo: Matthew Barakat, "Retired AF Officer Goes On Trial in Spy Case," Associated Press, September 21, 2009.

  [>]Fondren was sentenced to three years in federal prison: "Former AF Officer Gets 3 Years for China Spying," Associated Press, January 22, 2010.

  21. THE CYBERSPIES

  [>]Canadian researchers at the University of Toronto called "Chinese cyber-espionage" a "major global concern": Information Warfare Monitor, Tracking GhostNet: Investigating a Cyber Espionage Network (Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto, 2009), http://www.infowar-monitor.net/ghostnet.

  [>]"if a computer has a webcam": Nart Villeneuve interview, October 27, 2009.

  [>]the code name TITAN RAIN: Bradley Graham, "Hackers Attack Via Chinese Web Sites," Washington Post, August 25, 2005; Nathan Thornburgh, "Inside the Chinese Hack Attack," Time, August 25, 2005.

  [>]Shawn Carpenter ... studied a series of break-ins at Sandia: Nathan Thornburgh, "The Invasion of the Chinese Cyberspies," Time, August 29, 2005.

  [>]won a whopping $4.7 million jury award: Scott Sandlin, "Sandia Hacker Gets $4 Million; Analyst Fired for FBI Contact," Albuquerque Journal, February 14, 2007, p. A1. Sandia appealed, and in 2007 Carpenter and the laboratory reached a reportedly substantial settlement, although neither side would comment on the amount. Scott Sandlin, "Analyst, Sandia Settle Suit," Albuquerque Journal, October 14, 2007.

  [>]defense networks were taking a million suspicious "hits" a day: Jim Garamone, "General Lays Out Challenges of Defending Cyberspace," Department of Defense, American Forces Press Service, March 14, 2008.

  [>]cyberspies from China, Russia, and elsewhere had penetrated the power grid: Siobhan Gorman, "Electricity Grid in U.S. Penetrated by Spies," Wall Street Journal, April 8, 2009.

  [>]"Taking down the grid for months comes as close to a nuclear attack": Woolsey quoted in Joshua Brockman, "Cybersecurity on Display in D.C.," NPR, October 7, 2009, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113575765&ft=1&f=1019.

  [>]the CIA's chief cybersecurity official: Shane Harris, "China's Cyber-Militia," National Journal, May 31, 2008, pp. 15–24. Donahue did not identify the country where he said hackers had caused a power outage, but he was apparently referring to Brazil, whose officials disputed that a hacker attack had caused blackouts ther
e in 2005 and 2007.

  [>]the Tennessee Valley Authority ... was criticized by the Government Accountability Office for lax security: Ibid.

  [>]a startling video released by the Department of Homeland Security: See Clay Wilson, Botnets, Cybercrime, and Cyberterrorism: Vulnerabilities and Policy Issues for Congress, CRS Report for Congress, November 15, 2007, http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/terror/RL32114.pdf; Ted Bridis and Eileen Sullivan, "US Video Shows Mock Hacker Attack," Associated Press, September 26, 2007.

  [>]"cyber intruders have probed our electrical grid ... plunged entire cities into darkness": White House, Office of the Press Secretary, "Remarks by the President on Securing Our Nation's Cyber Infrastructure," May 29, 2009, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-securing-our-nations-cyber-infrastructure.

  [>]CBS News reported ... an attack in Brazil: The cyberattacks on Brazil were reported on 60 Minutes, November 8, 2009, CBS transcript, p. 3.

  [>]but the CBS report was disputed by Brazilian officials, who blamed the blackouts on sooty insulators: Marcelo Soares, "Brazilian Blackout Traced to Sooty Insulators, Not Hackers," Wired, November 9, 2009, http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/11/ brazil_blackout/; Seymour M. Hersh, "The Online Threat," The New Yorker, November 1, 2010, p. 48.

  [>]"The Chinese government has always opposed any Internet-wrecking crime, including hacking": Timothy L. Thomas, "China's Electronic Long-Range Reconnaissance," Military Review (November–December 2008), p. 52. Jiang Yu's statement was issued in Beijing on September 4, 2007, and carried by Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency. For the full text, see "China Denies U.S. Charge It Hacked Pentagon Network," Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the United States, http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/xw/t358639.htm.

  [>]a sort of "Hacker U," with courses on "Computer Virus Program Design and Application": Thomas, "China's Electronic Long-Range Reconnaissance," pp. 50–51.

  [>]"we do not know whether we are dealing with a spy, a company insider, or an organized criminal group": Robert S. Mueller III, speech to the Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco, October 7, 2009, http://www2.fbi.gov/pressrel/speeches/mueller100709.htm.