Saturday, February 27, 2010

Do Chinese Spies Pose The Biggest Espionage Threat To The U.S.?


Watch CBS News Videos Online

Caught On Tape: Selling America's Secrets -- CBS News/60 Minutes

Rare Video Obtained By "60 Minutes" Shows Pentagon Employee Selling Secrets to Chinese Spy

(CBS) "60 Minutes" has obtained an FBI videotape showing a Defense Department employee selling secrets to a Chinese spy for cash. The video, which has never been made public before, offers a rare glimpse into the secretive world of espionage and illustrates how China’s spying may now pose the biggest espionage threat to the U.S.

"60 Minutes" correspondent Scott Pelley's report will be broadcast this Sunday, Feb. 28, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

China may be the number-one espionage threat now. "The Chinese are the biggest problem we have with respect to the level of effort that they’re devoting against us, versus the level of attention we are giving to them," says Michelle Van Cleave, once America’s top counter-intelligence officer who coordinated the hunt for foreign spies from 2003 to 2006.

Read more ....

My Comment: What struck me was the selling of US secrets for $2,000. I repeat .... $2,000.

This traitor is lucky. In the past he would have been executed for treason instead of a few years in Club Fed.

3 comments:

iktikn said...

>Do Chinese Spies Pose The Biggest Espionage Threat To The U.S.?

Definitely and more so since Chinese are very loyal to their nation and to their people and have the talent to get in the right places to get critical information. I can't really imagine a Hispanic an European or other Asians spying for their home countries today.

I don't really think first or second generation immigrants feel that patriotic about the USA. And they feel even less patriotic if they are not though to appreciate the values that make America great or if they are to attached to their home countries.

P.S. I don't live in the USA and I am not an American citizen. Great blog by the way.

Anonymous said...

We just wanted to make you aware of the forthcoming segment on CBS 60Minutes, Sunday night, February 28th. The segment concerns Chinese
Espionage in America . The segment ties back to Minstrel's Alley recently
published "The Guys Who Spied for China, by Gordon Basichis. "The Guys Who
Spied for China" is a roman a cle...f, detailing the authors personal
experiencing uncovering Chinese Espionage Networks in the United States.
It is an unusual novel, a quirky tale filled with humor and insight.

The 60 Minutes segment proves all too revealing about a prevalent problem
that has long been ignored for what is perceived as long term economic gain.
In short, we have taken way too lightly the continuing issues of Chinese
Espionage and how it has impacted our economy and strategic advantage. Both
Chinese Nationals and American workers trusted with our most sensitive
technological and military secrets have sold them off for ideological
purposes but mostly for personal financial gain. I hope this segment of 60Minutes when aired, we make its viewers aware of our need to establish
measures that can best blunt Chinese Espionage efforts.

Michael Pelletier said...

I suspect that one of the big problems with the security clearance system in the US is that by and large they look only at personal circumstances and financial conditions, not character, patriotism, and affinity to the values and goals of the United States.

For example, it's possible for someone who lived the first six months, or six days, of their life in the US - then grew to adulthood as a citizen of one of the nations most hostile to American interests - to get a security clearance since they are a US citizen by virtue of where they happened to be born, as long as they don't have a bankruptcy or admit to a close personal or familial relationship with known spies.

What good does it do to guard the gates when the nation's enemies are granted security clearances and keys to the gates?