How China created a spy network in California.
asserted
China → create → California
‘They will try anything’
-
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They → try → anything
Over the last half a century, Chinese spies have taken aim at a wide swath of California targets.
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spies → take → targets
They have worked as a Boeing aerospace engineer and a naval engineer at defense contractor Power Paragon to obtain highly classified information on U.S. space shuttle and Navy projects.
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They → work → projects
They have assumed the roles of electrical engineering professor at UCLA and software engineer at Google and even worked as a driver and aide to the late U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein when she chaired the Senate Intelligence Committee.
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she → assume → Committee
Intelligence experts say that China continues to ramp up its network of spies and assets across California, as underscored this week after Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang admitted he was embroiled in an extramarital affair when allegations surfaced that he had a relationship with a suspected Chinese spy.
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he → say → spy
“For years, the FBI has been sounding the alarm regarding China’s ambitious efforts to gain technological, economic and geopolitical superiority,” said former Assistant Chief Horace Frank of the Los Angeles Police Department, who oversaw intelligence.
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who → sound → intelligence
“Their activities constitute a long-term strategic threat — not only to the United States, but to the world.
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activities → constitute → world
Their counterintelligence strategy is not only about stealing secrets today; it’s about securing strategic advantages tomorrow.
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it → steal → advantages
They recognize that human vulnerabilities (sex, money, ego and ambition) can be crucial when it comes to them attaining this quest for global dominance.”
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them → recognize → dominance
For China, California is a key espionage hub because it combines three attractive targets: advanced technology industries, major research universities and a large concentration of scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs, according to William Hannas, lead analyst at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology.
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it → combine → Security
China’s main objectives are to accelerate its technological development, reduce dependence on foreign suppliers and achieve leadership in strategically important fields, including artificial intelligence, Hannas said.
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Hannas → accelerate → intelligence
“Silicon Valley is especially important,” he said, “because it offers access not only to existing technologies, but also to innovations at their earliest stages.”
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it → say → stages
California is also a focal point of China’s espionage efforts, some experts say, because it has the highest number of Chinese residents in the continental U.S.
“It has been easier for both the spies and agents of influence to hide in plain sight, because they can more easily integrate themselves into their communities compared to places with a lower proportion of Asian Americans and Chinese residing overseas,” said Victor Shih, director of the 21st Century China Center at the UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy.
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Shih → say → Policy
Walking a fine line
For the U.S., Shih said, guarding against Chinese spies involves a delicate balance.
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guarding → walk → balance
Officials must avoid politicizing the issue in such a way that they cast suspicion on Chinese scientists or Asian Americans based on race and ethnicity.
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they → avoid → race
Already, many Chinese people working for California companies feel like they are being targeted, he said, and some complain the
suspicion means they are passed over for promotions.
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they → work → promotions
“Corporations need to put a lot of race and nationality neutral policies in place to secure their property rights,” Shih said.
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Shih → need → rights
“Things were way too lax before, but now we’re running the risk of a witch hunt.
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we → run → hunt
The worst thing that could happen, and is somewhat happening now,
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that → happen → ?
is that a witch hunt in the U.S. drives many otherwise totally innocent scientists to China, and ends up helping China to develop technologies that one day will replace U.S. technology or even challenge U.S. military superiority.
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that → drive → superiority
A race for technology leadership
Beijing’s leaders are seeking to catch up with — and eventually surpass — the U.S. in the frontier spheres of defense, aerospace and technology.
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leaders → seek → defense
Increasingly, China is also positioning assets in California to launch cyberhacking attacks and seek political influence and spread propaganda, intelligence experts said.
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experts → position → propaganda
“They will try anything,” said retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent James Gaylord said of China’s Ministry of State Security, the nation’s principal civilian intelligence and security service.
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Gaylord → try → Security
Gaylord, who led multiple counterintelligence operations in California, said Chinese spies and agents are everywhere in the state, infiltrating private companies and even government offices.
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spies → lead → companies
“Unlike the Russians, the Chinese favor a shotgun approach,” he said.
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he → favor → approach
“‘A thousand grains of sands’ is how they refer to it.”
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they → refer → it
In addition to cultivating relationships with California’s technology CEOs to secure direct insights into U.S. artificial intelligence policies, China’s spies are also logging on to social media to try to cultivate relationships with students at top research institutions such as Stanford University.
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spies → cultivate → University
As some spies adopt the ancient espionage practice of honey potting, using sexual or romantic allure to extract sensitive information, Gaylord frequently delivers a blunt warning to California’s tech bosses.
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Gaylord → adopt → bosses
“If you’ve got access to technology, if you’re a billionaire and a 50-year-old balding man, and you’ve got a 25-year-old woman thinking you’re hilarious and the most interesting thing, it’s not you,” he tells them.
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he → get → them
“It is what you have access to.”
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you → have → access
Chinese spies have embarked on affairs with high-level California politicians.
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spies → embark → politicians
According to declassified FBI interviews, disgraced former U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell told investigators in 2015 that he had sexual relations a handful of times with Christine Fang, a suspected Chinese spy.
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he → accord → Fang
They have also compromised U.S. counterintelligence.
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They → compromise → counterintelligence
In 2001, the FBI opened an inquiry after receiving credible information that Katrina Leung, a San Marino businesswoman it recruited as an informant in the early 1980s, was actively working as a double agent for China.
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it → open → China
It discovered that Leung, whose code name was “Parlor Maid,” was in a sexual relationship with her agency handler of 18 years, FBI Supervisory Special Agent James J. Smith, and had an affair with William Cleveland, another FBI agent.
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name → discover → Cleveland
It also found that, over the years, FBI officials had learned of several incidents indicating that Leung provided classified U.S. government information to China.
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Leung → find → China
Leung was charged in 2003 with obtaining, copying and retaining national security documents, but the U.S. government ultimately blocked the defense from talking to a key witness: her former FBI supervisor, Smith.
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government → charge → witness
After pleading guilty to lesser charges, Leung avoided a stiff prison sentence.
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Leung → plead → sentence
She and Smith now live together, according to public records, in a $1.4-million San Leandro home in Alameda County.
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She → live → County
…and 25 more, not listed.
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