Ex-CIA officer held
A FORMER Central Intelligence Agency officer was arrested at John F Kennedy International Airport in New York on Monday night in connection with charges that he illegally retained highly classified information, the US Justice Department said Tuesday.
Jerry Chun Shing Lee, a US citizen who now lives in Hong Kong, began his CIA career in 1994 as a case officer trained in covert communications, surveillance detection, recruitment, and the handling and payment of assets [agents or informants], among other duties. He was given top secret clearance and signed several non-disclosure agreements.
When Lee left the CIA in 2007, “those who knew him said he left the agency disgruntled after his career plateaued”, reported the New York Times.
In 2012 the FBI began investigating the disappearance of CIA agents in China. In the two years before, some 20 informants had been killed or jailed, one of the most disastrous failures of US intelligence in recent years.
Lee only returned to America in 2012, the court documents say, according to one report, lured by a fake job offer. The FBI’s investigation into why the US was losing so many informants in China was by this point in full swing.
The Justice Department said FBI agents searched Lee’s hotel rooms in 2012, during his trips to Virginia and Hawaii. They discovered he had two small books containing handwritten information on details such as the true names and numbers of spy recruits and covert CIA employees.
The books were discovered inside Lee’s luggage, sealed in a small clear plastic travel pack. The handwritten information inside varied in terms of classification, but at least one page contained top secret information, “the disclosure of which could cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security of the United States”.
Lee left the US in 2013 after being questioned on five occasions by FBI agents. He never mentioned his possession of the books containing classified information. He has only now been detained while on another visit. It’s unclear whether he knew he was still under suspicion.
Hong Kong media said Lee worked at Christie’s auction house in the Asian financial hub. A spokeswoman for the firm confirmed on Thursday it had suspended a Hong Kong employee pending a criminal investigation.
“The allegations significantly pre-date his employment with the company,” she said, adding that the role he had for the last 20 months focused on physical security for facilities and staff. The role was not linked to data security or IT functions at the company, she said, declining to provide further information.