Spy’s treachery led to death or jail in China for dozen informants
EX-CIA employee arrested in US investigation into how its operations in the Far East were uncovered
A FORMER CIA operative has been arrested after investigators suspected he secretly helped bring down America’s network of informants in China.
Jerry Chun Shing Lee, a 53-year-old US citizen, was intercepted after he arrived at John F Kennedy airport in New York at the climax of a six-year investigation.
He was charged with unlawful retention of national defence information after being previously found with two notebooks containing classified material.
Handwritten notes reportedly included the real names and phone numbers of a number of undercover officers as well as operational notes and the addresses of covert facilities.
The books were uncovered in 2012 but Mr Lee left the country for Hong Kong shortly afterwards. It is unclear why he decided to return to America this week.
The arrest, first reported by the New
York Times, marks a major development in an investigation into one of America’s biggest intelligence failures in decades. More than a dozen CIA informants have been killed or imprisoned by the Chinese government since 2010 in a devastating dismantling of America’s covert sources.
One operative was reportedly shot in front of colleagues in a government building courtyard – interpreted as a warning to others who had been working with the Americans.
The trend left US intelligence agencies scrambling to work out the cause, speculating that everything from a Chinese cyber attack to poor field operations could be to blame.
But then Mr Lee, who joined the CIA in 1994 after a stint in the US army and left in 2007, came under suspicion.
During his years at the agency he had “top secret” security clearance. He reportedly left the agency after becoming disgruntled as his career plateaued.
During a trip to America in 2012, FBI agents secured the right to search his luggage while he stayed in hotels in Hawaii and Virginia, according to the New York Times.
They discovered a diary and an address book – reportedly wrapped in clear plastic – in his luggage. They both appeared to contain confidential information. The FBI interviewed Mr Lee more than five times in May and June 2013 but, for reasons that remain unclear, he was never arrested. Mr Lee left America later that year.
On Tuesday, Mr Lee left his home in Hong Kong and visited New York on an unannounced trip and was arrested at New York’s primary international airport. A Justice Department spokesman said Mr Lee had once been “in unauthorised possession of materials relating to the national defence” – a reference to the diary and address book. Mr Lee faces a maximum of 10 years in prison if found guilty of espionage. He made an initial appearance in the Eastern District of New York on Tuesday.
Other government employees have been arrested over links to China in recent years. In March it was announced that Candace Marie Claiborne, a State Department employee, had been arrested and charged with offences relating to lying to investigators over her contact with Chinese officials.
She was accused of having money wired into her bank account by Chinese agents, according to the criminal complaint seen by the New York Times.
She pleaded not guilty.
In June, another former CIA officer, Kevin Patrick, was charged with giving classified information to China and with making false statements. He was accused of selling top secret files.
The investigation into what happened to America’s intelligence sources relating to China has been ongoing since 2012.
‘Mr Lee had once been in unauthorised possession of materials relating to the national defence’