Category: Espionage

US Officially Severs Open Skies Treaty With Russia

The U.S. has officially withdrawn from the 1992 Open Skies Treaty, a pact with Russia that permitted unarmed, reconnaissance flights over each other’s territories.

Sunday was the deadline after a 6-month warning on withdrawal, according to State Department deputy spokesman Cale Brown.

“On May 22, 2020, the United States exercised its right pursuant to paragraph 2 of Article XV of the Treaty on Open Skies by providing notice to the Treaty Depositaries and to all States Parties of its decision to withdraw from the Treaty, effective six months from the notification date,” Brown’s statement read. “Six months having elapsed, the U.S. withdrawal took effect on Nov. 22, 2020, and the United States is no longer a State Party to the Treaty on Open Skies.”

The treaty was designed to permit surveillance of military installations around the world, but the Trump administration has warned Russia has not been holding up its end of the agreement anyway, leading to the announcement of intention to withdraw six months ago.

“While the United States, along with our Allies and partners that are States Parties to the treaty, have lived up to our commitments and obligations under the treaty, Russia has flagrantly and continuously violated the treaty in various ways for years,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a May statement, per Fox News. “This is not a story exclusive to just the treaty on Open Skies, unfortunately, for Russia has been a serial violator of many of its arms control obligations and commitments.” Continue reading “”

“Haizhou Hu, 34, a Chinese national….”
Can you say: ‘People’s Liberation Army Spy’ ?
I thought you could.

University Of Virginia Researcher Charged After Trying To Board Flight To China While Allegedly In Possession Of Stolen Research

A researcher at the University of Virginia who was arrested while trying to board a plane to China with allegedly stolen research has been charged with federal crimes, including theft of trade secrets, the Justice Department announced Friday.

Haizhou Hu, 34, a Chinese national, roused the suspicions of authorities after a routine screening at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport Aug. 25 as he was trying to board a flight to China. “The screening revealed Hu was alleged to be in possession of bio-inspired research simulation software code that he was not authorized to possess,” the statement said.

Hu was charged with accessing a computer without authorization or exceeding authorization to obtain information from a protected computer and theft of trade secrets. He was conducting research in bio-mimics and fluid dynamics at the university.

Numerous researchers and professors at American universities have been arrested in 2019 and 2020 as the Justice Department cracks down on Beijing’s influence on college campuses, often on charges related to lying about ties with the Chinese government. Continue reading “”

Wonder what clued them into investigating……

Texas A&M professor accused of secretly collaborating with China amid NASA work.

Texas A&M professor, NASA researcher accused of secretly collaborating with China

WASHINGTON — A Texas A&M professor was charged with conspiracy, making false statements and wire fraud on allegations that he was secretly collaborating with the Chinese government while conducting research for NASA, the Department of Justice said Monday.

According to a criminal complaint, Zhengdong Cheng, 53, a professor in the College of Engineering at Texas A&M and a NASA researcher, obscured his affiliations and collaboration with a Chinese university and at least one Chinese-owned company. Continue reading “”

Former CIA officer charged with spying for China.

A 15-year veteran of the CIA was charged Monday with selling U.S. secrets to China then unwittingly admitting his spying to the FBI.

The method prosecutors said they used to get him to reveal the nature of his espionage was worthy of a spy novel itself.

Court documents said 67-year-old Alexander Yuk Ching Ma of Honolulu was charged with violating U.S. espionage laws. Prosecutors said he joined the CIA in 1967 then served as a CIA officer until he retired from the agency in 1989. For part of that time he was assigned to work overseas in the East-Asia and Pacific region.

Twelve years after he retired, prosecutors said Monday that Ma met with at least five officers of China’s Ministry of State Security in a Hong Kong hotel room, where he “disclosed a substantial amount of highly classified national defense information,” including facts about the CIA’s internal organization, methods for communicating covertly, and the identities of CIA officers and human assets. Continue reading “”

Yeah, those pictures of her in PLA uniform kinda gives the show away.

Fugitive Chinese researcher arrested overnight, being held in Sacramento County Jail

Juan Tang, a visiting Chinese cancer researcher at UC Davis, is accused of lying about her ties to the army in China.

The Chinese researcher who fled her post as a visiting researcher at UC Davis after being questioned by the FBI has emerged from the Chinese consulate in San Francisco and is in custody at the Sacramento County Main Jail, online jail records show. Continue reading “”

Former Ohio State professor arrested trying to flee to China with stolen laptops, USB drives

An Ohio State University rheumatology professor and researcher with ties to China was arrested while trying to flee the country in May, according to the FBI.

Song Guo Zheng, 57, was arrested Friday, May 22, 2020 as he landed in Anchorage, Alaska. He was about to catch a flight to China when he was taken into custody.

According to the FBI, Zheng was involved in a scheme to use approximately $4.1 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to bolster China’s research in the areas of rheumatology and immunology. Zheng is also accused of making false statements to cover up his involvement with China while working at multiple universities, including Ohio State.

“Yet again, we are faced with a professor at a U.S. University, who is a member of a Chinese Talent Plan, allegedly and deliberately failing to disclose his relationship with a Chinese university and receipt of funds from the Chinese Government in order to obtain millions of dollars in U.S. grant money designed to benefit the health and well-being of the people of the United States — not to be hijacked to supplement the research goals of the Chinese Communist Party,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers in a statement following the arrest.

Continue reading “”

Trump Administration to Expel Chinese Graduate Students Linked to China’s Military Schools

The Trump administration plans to revoke thousands of visas held by Chinese graduate students and researchers in the United States, escalating its crackdown on the Chinese government’s theft of intellectual property.

Those with direct ties to universities affiliated with the People’s Liberation Army will have their visas canceled, American officials with knowledge of the discussions told the New York Times. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed the matter with President Trump on Tuesday at the White House….

Chinese researchers and students have been under increased scrutiny from the U.S. government over the Chinese government’s economic espionage. In recent years, the FBI and Justice Department have briefed universities on potential national security threats posed by Chinese students.

Arkansas Professor Arrested for Concealing Communist Chinese Funding

An engineering professor at the University of Arkansas has been arrested by the FBI and faces up to 20 years in prison for allegedly hiding funding that he received from the communist Chinese government.

The New York Times reports that “Simon Ang of the University of Arkansas, was arrested on Friday and charged on Monday with wire fraud.”

“He worked for and received funding from Chinese companies and from the Thousand Talents program, which awards grants to scientists to encourage relationships with the Chinese government,” the report notes, adding that “he warned an associate to keep his affiliation with the program quiet.”

Emory Prof Admits to Chinese Spy Ring Involvement

A former professor at Emory University pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns by failing to disclose $500,000 in income from Chinese sources.

The professor, Xiao-Jiang Li, worked at two Chinese universities as part of China’s Thousand Talents Program, according to the Department of Justice. Li was ordered to pay $35,089 in restitution and sentenced to one-year probation.

Court findings revealed that in 2012, while still working at Emory, Li began working for the Thousand Talents Program and continued to work for the program until 2018. During this time period, Li worked at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and at Jinan University, where he reportedly conducted animal research. Li’s tax fraud was discovered when the National Institutes of Health examined his applications for research grants.

Number of Professors Allegedly in Cahoots With Communist China Quickly Mounts

In recent months, U.S. authorities have discovered Chinese operatives scheming to compromise American interests through the university system, including plots to steal missile technology and cancer research.

Ye Yanqing used to be a student at Boston University until she chose to flee the country last month. The reason for her departure: an FBI investigation regarding her position as a Lieutenant in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), according to the Washington Times.

According to investigators, Ye was taking orders to gather intelligence from “senior leaders of the PLA while conducting research at Boston University,” according to the Washington Times. In addition to committing espionage, she also failed to disclose her position as an active-duty PLA officer, earning her charges of visa fraud in addition to charges of acting as a foreign government agent, making false statements to investigators, and conspiracy.

This sort of collusion isn’t limited to Chinese-born student-spies. Charles Lieber, the chair of Harvard’s chemistry department was taken into custody and charged Jan. 28 for making false statements to investigators about his financial ties to China.

Former CIA Officer Sentenced to 19 Years for Conspiring With Chinese Spies

“Chinese spies are being found out, abroad and in the United States, in surprising numbers. That means there are even more of them out and about, of course. But for the Chinese, it raises the question of how many we knew about before, and how many we fed bogus information to.”

A former CIA case officer was sentenced Friday to 19 years in prison for conspiring to provide American intelligence secrets to the Chinese government, in an espionage case that some current and former officials say dealt a devastating blow to U.S. intelligence operations.

Jerry Chun Shing Lee, 55, served 13 years as a Central Intelligence Agency case officer in several locations overseas, including China, where prosecutors said he had firsthand knowledge of some of the agency’s most sensitive secrets, including the names of covert CIA officers and clandestine human sources in China.