A large portion of intelligence work is focused on collecting information your competitor or adversary does not want you to have.
asserted
you → focus → information
But another key focus of intelligence is on compromising key individuals.
asserted
focus → compromise → individuals
This involves damaging reputations or putting people in a position where they might disclose sensitive information.
uncertain
they → involve → information
To achieve that, intelligence agencies have often used the suggestion, promise or reality of sex.
asserted
agencies → achieve → sex
The reemergence of interest in “sexpionage” comes from recent allegations around Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and his relationship with an executive of a partner company.
asserted
reemergence → come → company
The US intelligence community believes the woman in question, Alice Huang, is connected to Chinese intelligence.
asserted
woman → believe → intelligence
Nvidia, the computing power behind American AI advances and a significant financial factor in US stock market gains, has launched its own investigation.
asserted
Nvidia → compute → investigation
And the US president, Donald Trump, has said the FBI is looking into the situation.
asserted
FBI → say → situation
China has dismissed the claims as a groundless smear campaign.
uncertain
China → dismiss → campaign
The situation has drawn attention to the wider vulnerabilities the west has to spying.
asserted
west → draw → spying
The key question is: does any western organisation with deep exposure to Chinese partners have a realistic understanding of how information moves out of those relationships?
asserted
information → have → relationships
My assessment is they do not.
asserted
they → do → ?
In part, this is because Chinese intelligence is widely viewed as a mirror of the west’s heavily controlled intelligence agencies.
asserted
intelligence → view → agencies
But China’s 2017 National Intelligence Law requires organisations and citizens to support and cooperate with state intelligence work.
asserted
Law → require → work
Any partner with meaningful ties to China is thus a potential conduit, regardless of whether they have been formally recruited.
asserted
they → recruit → China
‘Honeytrap’ agents
Sexpionage captures headlines and drags eyeballs.
asserted
Sexpionage → capture → eyeballs
The promise of a fallen man (nearly always a man) has been a staple of tabloid newspapers, novels, films and television for well over a century.
asserted
promise → fall → century
At that time, the then-UK secretary for war, John Profumo, had an affair with a 19-year-old woman, who was also intimate with a Soviet defence attache.
asserted
who → have → attache
This created an intelligence vulnerability.
asserted
This → create → vulnerability
Similarly, suggestions of government connections to the dead and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein provide whiffs of espionage to sexual abuse and compromise.
asserted
suggestions → provide → abuse
Sexpionage can even be seen in biblical accounts.
asserted
Sexpionage → see → accounts
The Book of Joshua tells the story of a woman called Rahab who used her access to Jericho’s military leaders to pass on secrets to the Israelites.
asserted
who → tell → Israelites
It also featured in the intrigues of the middle ages and prominently in the first world war.
asserted
It → feature → war
Mata Hari, a Dutch dancer and spy, was executed in 1917 having promised intelligence to both the French and German militaries.
asserted
Hari → execute → militaries
These intrigues were based on her entanglements with senior military officials on both sides.
asserted
intrigues → base → sides
Later, during the cold war, the Soviets and East Germans refined their use of so-called “honeytrap” agents towards using ordinary looking, reasonably well-educated men and women with whom a relationship would look believable.
asserted
relationship → refine → whom
These relationships often began without coercion and consequently the betrayal of secrets was more enduring and deniable.
asserted
betrayal → begin → secrets
A large number of western officials were recalled home from Moscow or Soviet satellite states during this period after being caught in compromising and staged situations with Russian agents.
asserted
number → recall → agents
There were some, like British civil servant John Vassall, whose compromised status was not detected and who spied for the Soviet Union.
asserted
who → be → Union
Intelligence agencies also had conspicuous success during the cold war through the exploitation of closeted gay men like Vassall and the Canadian ambassador to Moscow, John Watkins, whose compromise might see them prosecuted if they did not comply.
uncertain
they → have → Moscow
According to author Henry Schlesinger, the purpose of sexpionage falls into four categories.
uncertain
purpose → accord → categories
First is to control or coerce the target, persuading them to spy.
asserted
First → control → them
Second is to collect “pillow talk”, the injudicious comments to a lover in an intimate moment and giving access to their phones or computers.
asserted
Second → collect → phones
The third category is collecting information that allows for further exploitation of the target.
asserted
that → collect → target
Minor legal snags such as recreational drug use or driving infringements can be leveraged further.
asserted
snags → leverage → use
And the fourth is collecting a means by which to discredit protest or political movements.
asserted
fourth → collect → movements
Evidence to the inquiry by the Metropolitan Police has confirmed that undercover police officers engaged in sexual relationships to collect intelligence and undermine protest groups from the 1970s until at least 2011.
asserted
officers → confirm → 2011
If we bring sexpionage to the modern day, what might an intelligence agency or officer be considering when targeting a technology executive?
uncertain
agency → bring → executive
Receiving forewarning of US government decisions is a key interest for China, as is gauging the extent to which the US tech industry relies on Taiwan.
asserted
industry → receive → Taiwan
We also need to consider the incentives of technology leaders.
asserted
We → need → leaders
…and 7 more, not listed.
The Aporia
