Russia has dominated the discussion about foreign influence in America over the past year… but there may be a more insidious threat to U.S. cyber security than the former Soviet Union.
CIA Director Mike Pompeo confirmed that the intelligence agency was concerned about Vladimir Putin’s government meddling in the upcoming 2018 election, but he also cautioned that while the media is obsessed with Russian connections, mainland China may actually be more of a concern for American national security.
Foreign governments have always tried to steal valuable information from other nations, but China may actually be one of the most effective countries in that objective, the director told BBC News.
“The Chinese have a much bigger footprint upon which to execute that mission than the Russians do,” Pompeo explained.
“We can watch very focused efforts to steal American information, to infiltrate the United States with spies – with people who are going to work on behalf of the Chinese government against America,” he warned. – READ MORE
[give_form id=”79809″] [divider][/divider]China is suspected of sharing stolen information with Russia concerning the secret identities of CIA assets subsequently arrested and executed, current and former U.S. officials told NBC News.
Federal authorities investigating Jerry Chun Shing Lee, a former CIA case officer arrested in New York City last week and charged with retaining classified information, determined that Chinese intelligence subverted the agency’s covert communications system and ascertained the identities of U.S. spies who “disappeared” soon after, NBC News reported Friday.
“A secret FBI–CIA task force investigating the case concluded that the Chinese government penetrated the CIA’s method clandestine communication with its spies, using that knowledge to arrest and execute at least 20 CIA informants,” NBC News reported, citing multiple current and former government officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“American officials suspect China then shared that information with Russia, which employed it to expose, arrest and possibly kill American sources in that country,” the report said.
The New York Times reported previously that several CIA sources were killed in recent years, and that authorities investigating their deaths had set their sights on Mr. Lee, a 53-year-old former employee who left the agency in 2007 and had worked in Hong Kong prior to being arrested shortly upon arriving at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on Monday. NBC’s report, however, marked the first time that U.S. officials connected the suspected turncoat to Russian intelligence, albeit anonymously. – READ MORE
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