China Killed, Jailed About 20 CIA Sources Following Intelligence Breach
The Chinese government worked to weaken CIA spying operations by killing or imprisoning between 18 to 20 informants over two years
IsraelDefense
| 21/05/2017
Photo: AP
The Chinese government systematically killed or jailed between 18-20 CIA sources that were embedded in the country’s government over a two-year period, according to a report Saturday.
Current and former American officials told the New York Times that an intelligence breach crippled US spying operations in the Asian nation and led to 18 to 20 assets being killed or imprisoned.
US intelligence agencies scrambled to understand how the Chinese were able to expose the spy operations, officials told The Times.
From 2010 through the end of 2012, according to former American officials, the Chinese killed at least a dozen of the CIA’s sources.
One of the assets was shot in front of his colleagues in the courtyard of a government building as a message to others who might have been working for the CIA.
Some believed that a mole within the agency had given information to the Chinese, zeroing in on a former employee who remained in Asia after leaving the CIA. Others argued that US handlers had become sloppy, allowing China to easily hack the covert system the CIA used to communicate with foreign sources.
The breach predated the 2015 Chinese hack of the Office of Personnel Management in December that compromised the personal information of about 4 million current and former federal employees.
[Source: The Daily News]
The Chinese government worked to weaken CIA spying operations by killing or imprisoning between 18 to 20 informants over two years
The Chinese government systematically killed or jailed between 18-20 CIA sources that were embedded in the country’s government over a two-year period, according to a report Saturday.
Current and former American officials told the New York Times that an intelligence breach crippled US spying operations in the Asian nation and led to 18 to 20 assets being killed or imprisoned.
US intelligence agencies scrambled to understand how the Chinese were able to expose the spy operations, officials told The Times.
From 2010 through the end of 2012, according to former American officials, the Chinese killed at least a dozen of the CIA’s sources.
One of the assets was shot in front of his colleagues in the courtyard of a government building as a message to others who might have been working for the CIA.
Some believed that a mole within the agency had given information to the Chinese, zeroing in on a former employee who remained in Asia after leaving the CIA. Others argued that US handlers had become sloppy, allowing China to easily hack the covert system the CIA used to communicate with foreign sources.
The breach predated the 2015 Chinese hack of the Office of Personnel Management in December that compromised the personal information of about 4 million current and former federal employees.
[Source: The Daily News]
