Tag: Espionage

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-Top News China Defence

China boosts counter-espionage efforts

China's youth unemployment rate as high as nearly 20%.

China’s highly secretive civilian spy agency launched a public account on a social media platform and called on the people to join them against espionage…reports Asian Lite News

The Ministry of State Security said that China should inspire its citizens to participate in counter-espionage work, as well as, reward and protect entities who report espionage to normalize the concept of people participating in such work, reported CNN.

“Enhance the mechanism for reporting espionage by legally commending, rewarding and protecting individuals and organizations who report espionage,” it added, “so as to normalize the mechanism for the people to participate in counter-espionage work,” it said.

China’s highly secretive civilian spy agency launched a public account on a social media platform and called on the people to join them against espionage, offering rewards and protection for the people who provide them with information.

The Ministry of State Security is a lot secretive about its work and even its public website does not describe its activities, according to CNN.

It launched an account on WeChat on Monday which has more than one billion users. The next day, the account published its first post with the title, “Countering espionage requires the mobilization of all members of society.”

The ministry added that the national security bodies should keep reporting channels like hotlines and online platforms which are open to handle reports of suspected espionage within China in a timely way.

Moreover, it said that it is the mission of “national bodies, civic groups and commercial enterprises” to carry out anti-espionage measures. It further added that the government and the industry heads should take responsibility for that matter, CNN reported.

Chinese authorities have been encouraging the public to inform about any suspected foreign spies as well as their Chinese collaborators through propaganda and incentive campaigns for years now.

The officials and state media have been saying that China is under constant threat from “hostile foreign forces”. These forces are trying to infiltrate and undermine the country, reported CNN.

Earlier this year, the security ministry’s debut WeChat post quoted new amendments to a counter-espionage law passed by China’s rubber-stamp legislature.

It further cited that news outlets, broadcasters, television stations, the culture sector and internet providers should also contribute to anti-espionage education.

Under China’s revised Counter-Espionage Law, all “documents, data, materials, and items related to national security and interests” are under the same protection as state secrets, according to Portal Plus.

The law expands the definition of espionage to include cyber-attacks against state organs or critical information infrastructure.

Earlier in June, China announced ‘material awards’ of up to and above USD 15,000 for providing tip-offs about people who plan to harm national security, according to CNN. (ANI)

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-Top News USA

Trump could face espionage charges

Former US President Donald Trump

11 sets of classified documents were recovered from the Florida residence of former President Donald Trump during an unprecedented search earlier this week by the FBI, reports Yashwant Raj

US federal agents took away 11 sets of classified documents from the Florida residence of former President Donald Trump during an unprecedented search earlier this week, according to legal papers related to the search and the ongoing investigation unsealed by a court on Friday.

These documents are part of a potentially criminal violation of the Espionage Act and a few other laws.

They included four sets of top secret documents, three sets of secret documents and three sets of confidential documents, according to an inventory of items seized by FBI agents.

Some of these documents were marked “classified/TS/SCI” documents “shorthand” for “top secret/sensitive compartmented information”.

Among them was also a document about France’s President Emmanuel Macron.

The documents, which were listed in a “Receipt of Property” handed over to Trump’s lawyers by the FBI, did not give details contained in them.

One set was titled, “Various classified/TS/SCI documents”. Another went with “Miscellanous (Miscellaneous spelt wrong) Top Secret Documents”. And the one on Macron simply said, “Info re: President of France.”

The warrant sanctioning the FBI search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence on Monday specified three potential violations of federal law, which could together end in a punishment of years in jail and fine if the accused is found guilty.

They are federal laws 18 USC 2071 (Concealment, removal or mutilation), 18 USC 793 (Gathering, transmitting or losing defence information), and 18 USC 1519 (Destruction, alteration or falsification of records in Federal investigations). The second law, 18 USC 793, is part of the Espionage Act, but it does not pertain specifically to the act of spying.

Trump could potentially be under investigation for criminal violation of the Espionage Act.

The former President is embroiled in a slew of legal cases, both criminal and civil. He was in New York City to testify in one of them on Monday when the FBI visited his property in Florida. This is a civil case against Trump Organization, the family business run by his sons after he was elected President.

Trump is facing potentially criminal charges in Georgia state stemming from his efforts to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election in his favour.

ALSO READ: Trump searched for papers related to N-weapons

Categories
-Top News China USA

FBI uncovers dramatic escalation of Chinese espionage on US soil

China and us flag. (Photo:Xinhua/IANS)

Among the most alarming things the FBI uncovered pertains to Chinese-made Huawei equipment atop cell towers near US military bases in the rural Midwest.

A frenzy of counter-intelligence activity by the FBI and US other federal agencies has focused on what career security officials say has been a dramatic escalation of Chinese espionage on American soil over the past decade.

Since at least 2017, federal officials have investigated Chinese land purchases near critical infrastructure, shut down a high-profile regional consulate believed by the US government to be a hotbed of Chinese spies and stone-walled what they saw as clear efforts to plant listening devices near sensitive military and government facilities, CNN reported.

Among the most alarming things the FBI uncovered pertains to Chinese-made Huawei equipment atop cell towers near US military bases in the rural Midwest.

According to multiple sources familiar with the matter, the FBI determined the equipment was capable of capturing and disrupting highly restricted Defence Department communications, including those used by US Strategic Command, which oversees the country’s nuclear weapons, CNN reported.

While broad concerns about Huawei equipment near US military installations have been well known, the existence of this investigation and its findings have never been reported.?Its origins stretch back to at least the former Barack Obama administration.

It’s unclear if the intelligence community determined whether any data was actually intercepted and sent back to Beijing from these towers. Sources familiar with the issue say that from a technical standpoint, it’s incredibly difficult to prove a given package of data was stolen and sent overseas.

Photo taken in 2019 shows then U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, FBI Director Christopher Wray announcing 23 Criminal Charges Against China’s Huawei & Wanzhou Meng.

But multiple sources familiar with the investigation tell CNN that there’s no question the Huawei equipment has the ability to intercept not only commercial cell traffic but also the highly restricted airwaves used by the military and disrupt critical US Strategic Command communications, giving the Chinese government a potential window into America’s nuclear arsenal, CNN reported.

“This gets into some of the most sensitive things we do,” said one former FBI official with knowledge of the investigation.

“It would impact our ability for essentially command and control with the nuclear triad. That goes into the ‘BFD’ category. If it is possible for that to be disrupted, then that is a very bad day.”

However, the Chinese government strongly denies any efforts to spy on the US. Huawei in a statement to CNN also denied that its equipment is capable of operating in any communications spectrum allocated to the Defence Department. 

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-Top News UK News

Man suspected of spying charged with espionage

Smith will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, the police added…reports Asian Lite News

A security guard for the British embassy in Berlin suspected of working for the Russian intelligence services has been charged with nine offences under the UK Official Secrets Act.

The Metropolitan Police said on Wednesday said 57-year-old David Smith was extradited from Germany to the United Kingdom.

“David Ballantyne Smith, 57 (24.07.64), a British national who was living in Potsdam, Germany, is charged with nine offences under the Official Secrets Act 1911,” the police said in a statement.

The alleged offences are related to the collection and transfer of information useful to the Russian state. The offences were presumably committed between October 2020 and August 2021.

Smith will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, the police added.

Last August, the German police arrested Smith working as a security guard at the British embassy in Berlin on suspicion of spying. Smith reportedly cooperated with the Russian intelligence service since November 2020.

He mainly worked with British documents, Sputnik reported citing German media.

German law enforcement believes that the suspect received a monetary reward for his services, presumably in cash.

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Categories
-Top News China USA

US charges 5 Chinese agents with spying and harassment

The individuals allegedly perpetrated transnational repression schemes to target Chinese nationals living in the United States because their political views and actions are disfavored by the Chinese government…reports Asian Lite News

US Federal prosecutors on Wednesday charged five agents with spying and harassing Chinese nationals living in the United States who have been critical of Beijing, the US Department of Justice said in a press release.

“Two complaints were unsealed, and one amended complaint was authorized today in federal court charging five defendants with various crimes related to efforts by the secret police of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to stalk, harass and spy on Chinese nationals residing in Queens, New York, and elsewhere in the United States,” the Justice Department said.

“Fan ‘Frank’ Liu and Matthew Ziburis were arrested yesterday in the Eastern District of New York, while Shujun Wang was arrested this morning in the Eastern District of New York. The other two defendants remain at large,” the press release further said.

The individuals allegedly perpetrated transnational repression schemes to target Chinese nationals living in the United States because their political views and actions are disfavored by the Chinese government, the release said.

US media reports said the Chinese agents targeted lawyer and political activist Arthur Liu, who helped organize pro-democracy demonstrations when he lived in China. A democratic congressional candidate in the state of New York Xiong Yan was another target, he had been involved in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, Sputnik News Agency reported.

“The Ministry of State Security (MSS) is more than an intelligence collection agency. It executes the Chinese government’s efforts to limit free speech, attack dissidents, and preserve the power of the Communist Party,” said Assistant Director Alan E. Kohler Jr of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division.

“When it exports those actions overseas, it violates the fundamental sovereignty of the United States and becomes a national security threat. These indictments should serve as a stark warning to the MSS and all foreign intelligence agencies that their efforts at repression will not be tolerated within our borders,” he added.

Notably, in February, a Canadian court had held that a Chinese government agency Overseas Chinese Affairs Office (OCAO) was involved in espionage activities “that harm Canada’s interests”.

The court was hearing an application challenging the denial of citizenship to a Chinese couple who had worked for OCAO in China for 20 years. The court upheld the denial of citizenship saying that it was reasonable “given the evidence available to the officer,” reported National Post.

OCAO is an agency under the United Front Work Department (UFWD) of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The UFWD is a department of the CCP that works to co-opt and neutralize sources of potential opposition to the policies and authority of the CCP, according to a US-China Economic and Security Review Commission report. (ANI)

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Categories
-Top News China

China using ‘espionage’ to become next superpower

“These intelligence operations pose a grave threat to US national security and economic prosperity.” the report added….reports Asian Lite News

China seeks to become the world’s next superpower, dethroning the United States and tearing apart the rules-based international system that American and its allies have built since the end of World War 2, according to a report published in The National Interest.

In an opinion piece in The National Interest, Stavros Atlamazoglou wrote, “the US faces myriad conventional and unconventional threats from Russia, North Korea, Iran, terrorist organisations, climate change, and pandemics are just some of them. Yet, China unquestionably rises to the top as the primary danger to US national security.”

According to the report, “to achieve the world’s next superpower, Beijing primarily goes after economic, industrial, and technological targets that will offer a competitive advantage to the Chinese economic and technological sector. Whether it’s stolen blueprints of American (and foreign, including Russian) aircraft, such as the F-35 or F-22, or missile technology, China is using espionage to fuel its economic furnaces.”

“These intelligence operations pose a grave threat to US national security and economic prosperity.” the report added.

Citing an interview of Mike Orlando, the Acting Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, Atlamazoglou wrote that “Chinese espionage costs the US between USD 200 to USD 600 billion a year in stolen intellectual property. And this is something that has been happening for the past two decades, which would mean a loss of USD 4 trillion, on the low end, to USD 12 trillion, on the high end; an astounding loss either way.”

“The holistic and comprehensive threat to the United States, posed by the Communist Party of China is an existential threat. And it is the most complex, pernicious, aggressive, and strategic threat our nation has ever faced,” Bill Evanina, the former director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, recently told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Atlamazoglou further stated that in order to surpass the US, China needs to continue its economic growth and technologically outmatch the US and the rest of the West. However, instead of relying on innovation and invention, China prefers to “steal technology and then copy it”.

China is targeting and stealing “transport technologies,” such as quantum computing, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and 5G. Although there is a military application for all of these technologies, the commercial and economic value is equally important to Beijing in its bid to become a superpower, Atlamazoglou added. (ANI)

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