Is Anything Secret These Days?
Super Extra Compartmented Ultra Sensitive Ãœber Classified := Takes An Extra Day To Appear On The Front Page Of The Newspaper, Just As Fast To Get To Our Competitors
Ace says that the Chinese have been getting the USS Virginia and follow-on data.
U.S. intelligence and security officials said the case remains under investigation but that it could prove to be among the most damaging spy cases since the 1985 one of John A. Walker Jr., who passed Navy communication codes to Moscow for 22 years.
The Los Angeles spy ring has operated since 1990 and has funneled technology and military secrets to China in the form of documents and computer disks, officials close to the case said.
The ring was led by Chi Mak and his wife, Rebecca Laiwah Chiu, along with Mr. Chi’s brother, Tai Wang Mak, and his wife, Fuk Heung Li, officials said.
Key compromises uncovered so far include sensitive data on Aegis battle management systems that are the core of U.S. Navy destroyers and cruisers.
China covertly obtained the Aegis technology and earlier this year deployed its first Aegis warship, code-named Magic Shield, intelligence officials have said.
The Chinese also obtained sensitive data on U.S. submarines, including classified details related to the new Virginia-class attack submarines.
Officials said based on a preliminary assessment, China now will be able to track U.S. submarines, a compromise that potentially could be devastating if the United States enters a conflict with China in defending Taiwan.
Mr. Chi, an electrical engineer, also had access to details on U.S. aircraft carriers and once was aboard the USS Stennis. A Pentagon report made public earlier this year said China’s military is building up capabilities to attack U.S. aircraft carriers.
China also is thought to have obtained information from the spy ring that will assist Chinese military development of electromagnetic pulse weapons — weapons that simulate the electronic shock caused by a nuclear blast — that disrupt electronics.
It also is thought to have obtained unmanned aerial vehicle technology from the spy ring.
Yep, we spend all sorts of time worrying about tourist pictures in the boat and such things, and CD-ROMs worth of real data just freely travel from secret places to the other guys.
Some days it looks like all we protect our secrets from is the public.
This information is coming from Bill Gertz, whose ax to grind is “China dangerous” (vice Tom Barnett, whose axe is “China connecting”).
3 Responses to “Is Anything Secret These Days?”
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November 6th, 2005 at 6:19 am
….and a lot of the problem is that way too many of our institutions educate way too many Chinese nationals in Masters and Doctorate level engineering. Nothing new, and not just Chinese. I remember at the start of Gulf War I there were 3 Iraqi nationals working on their PhDs at the Univ. of Fl.
They were in …. nuclear engineering
November 6th, 2005 at 7:39 am
Chap, great post. I hadn’t read that stuff yet. It is as depressing as it is infuriating.
And to CDR Salamander, come on. I’m sure that they were just interested in building safe, state-of-the-art nuclear power plants to better serve the people of Iraq.
Jesting aside, I enjoyed that comment as much as I did Chap’s post.
Of course, if any moves are made to dig into backgrounds and further monitor the activities of foreign nationals currently studying in the US, people will scream, “XENOPHOBE!” at the tops of their lungs.
The steps taken to combat espionage would become the issue, not the espionage itself, which would simply continue to go on. Ugly situation. I agree with Gerts. I think China is dangerous. They’re getting ready for a fight, and they’re acting like they plan to win it.
November 7th, 2005 at 11:25 am
When I was in college at a decent sized community college in 98/99, one of the better math teachers there was a guy who had his doctorate… in Nuclear Physics.
As he put it – “I’m from Libya – who’s going to give me a job in that field?”