On Friday, authorities arrested a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer for charges of conspiring with a relative who was formerly with the agency as well and sending top-secret classified information to the People's Republic of China (PRC).
During a press release, the Department of Justice announced that the criminal complaint filed against former agent Alexander Yuk Ching Ma was unsealed on Monday.
Chinese espionage
National Security Assistant Attorney General John C. Demers said the evidence of Chinese espionage was prominent and that unfortunately, it is connected with ex-American intelligence officers. Authorities said the officers deceived their colleagues, the country as well as its liberal democratic values of the United States.
According to Fox News, Demers said betrayal would never be worth it, and it will always be revealed whether it be immediately or years after the activities. The official added authorities will always find traitors and bring them to justice. He noted the individuals may be expendable for the China intelligence services but are a reminder to the US to remain vigilant.
Ma, a 67-year-old US citizen, was born in Hong Kong and worked for the CIA since 1982, as written in court documents. He maintained a top-secret clearance and was also part of several nondisclosure agreements where he accepted his responsibility of protecting government secrets during his stay with the agency.
The suspect parted ways with the CIA in 1989 and traveled to Shanghai, China to find a different career and later went to Hawaii in 2001.
The complaint against Ma also states that he and his 87-year-old relative who is suffering from debilitating cognitive disease first sent sensitive information to the Chinese intelligence agency in March 2001.
The particulars include details about CIA personnel, foreign informants, classified operations, and several methods for concealing communications. The two men are believed to have been paid $50,000 for their efforts.
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Persisting interference
The recent complaint marks the latest in a series of cases against former intelligence officers. Kevin Patrick Mallory, another ex-CIA intelligence officer, was sentenced to 20 years in jail in May 2019 for spying for China. Last November, Jerry Chun Shing Lee was given 19 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to supplying classified information to the Asian superpower., as reported by The New York Times.
Between 2010 and 2012, US authorities believe Chinese officials gathered several American informants in China, killing most and disrupting the CIA's network of intelligence within the country.
Although officials have debated the role of some American intelligence officers in revealing the identities of informants in China, US authorities have not publicly accused any individual of giving away information that caused the network's collapse.
The court documents state that Ma worked in 2006 as a translator for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on a contract. He then supplied his relative with pictures of individuals that the Chinese intelligence believed to be American agents.
The relative then identified two of the five individuals that Chinese intelligence officers inquired about. Ma's wife was also seen traveling to Shanghai and is believed to have delivered a laptop to Chinese agents.
The former intelligence officer is also accused of repeatedly copying classified documents that the FBI had him translate. He sometimes used a digital camera or a photocopier to make the duplicates. Ma then took the records from the Hawaii offices of the FBI that he worked in.
