China - Blogs of War

Russia-Ukraine: Where Do We Go From Here?

The war is less than three weeks old and while there may be more good news than expected, thanks to Ukrainian bravery and allied unity, destabilizing chaos could reign at any moment.

Covert Contact

Chinese Spies in US Law Enforcement - And Everywhere Else

The regular counterintelligence chat with William Tucker is a day late but full of new Chinese espionage activity in the NYPD, the EU, and beyond. We also touch on intelligence history and why literature from the Middle Ages or beyond is not only fascinating but still relevant.

Counterintelligence

Election Threats and Disrupting Chinese Espionage

In this episode we discuss the recent report for Microsoft that details Russian, Chinese, and Iranian attacks on individuals and organizations tied to our presidential campaigns and the recent move to revoke the visas of more than 1,000 Chinese grad students and researchers

Counterintelligence

French Officer Busted Spying on NATO for GRU & Other Espionage Cases

William Tucker joins me to discuss two high profile cases this week, sloppy Chinese tradecraft, and why it always pays to visit the FBI before the FBI visits you.

Covert Contact

Texas A&M, NASA, and Chinese Espionage

William Tucker joins me to discuss the Zhengdong Cheng case, how Chinese espionage might be forced to evolve, global awareness of the scope of China’s spying, and how organizations can protect themselves if they haven’t started evaluating their own risk.

William J. Tucker

Counterintelligence Chat: Alexei Navalny & Alexander Ma

William Tucker returns to look at the apparent poisoning of Alexei Navalny and yet another Chinese espionage case, this time involving Alexander Ma. It’s a classic case, with a Hawaii connection, and there’s likely more interesting details to come.

Covert Contact

Washington Takes Aim at the Confucius Institute

Today’s decision to force the Confucius Institute to register as a foreign mission is the subject of my regular Thursday evening counterintelligence chat with Covert Contact regular William Tucker. We look at why it was necessary and where we, and China, might go from here.

Covert Contact

Chinese Spies and Russian Honey Traps

William J. Tucker returns for our regular Thursday evening counterintelligence chat. We start off by discussing the resource challenges in addressing Chinese espionage but quickly pivot to thoughts on Russian cases, honey traps, and more.

Covert Contact

Chinese Espionage in the United States

William Tucker is back to discuss the scale of Chinese espionage in the United States and some of the misconceptions that have hampered our response to the threat.

Covert Contact

What's Happening at the Chinese Consulate in Houston?

Houston rarely finds itself at the center of geopolitical drama but that changed overnight as firefighters and police surrounded the Chinese consulate as staff there began burning massive amounts of documentation in the building's courtyard.

Health

Coronavirus Resources: The Truth About COVID-19

A frightening global event with life or death consequences presents the greatest possible challenge to information quality.

Covert Contact

The Jerry Chun Shing Lee Case

Jerry Chun Shing Lee, a former CIA case officer, is suspected by many to have compromised CIA activities in China but has only been charged with the less serious crime of unlawful retention of national defense information.

Covert Contact

Beyond Russia: Overlooked Counterintelligence Threats

Russian intelligence presents a significant challenge for the United States but it is far from the only threat. There are dozens of nations and non-state actors actively collecting against us at any given time.

Technology

China's Media Warns of Challenges to US Businesses in Wake of Edward Snowden's Revelations

This English summary [http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20130618000122&cid=1101] from Taiwan-based Want China Times zeros in on Cisco but other tech giants are named: > Furthermore, Cisco is the key technology and equipment supplier to the US government and its military. Security experts are therefore worried that

Intelligence

China's Foreign Ministry: Speculation that Edward Snowden is a Chinese Spy is Completely Groundless

The denial is meaningless and would be expected at this stage in any event. However, Hua Chunying did leverage the question to throw a soft jab [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/17/edward-snowden-not-chinese-spy-beijing] back at the United States: > China’s foreign ministry has dismissed speculation that NSA

Intelligence

Is Edward Snowden a Spy?

It is not yet possible to determine if Edward Snowden is working with a foreign intelligence service (FIS) or if a rich fantasy life and raging narcissism may have lead him into this unfortuate position. What is obvious, however, is that he is not a simple idealistic whistleblower. Unkowns aside,

Intelligence

Edward Snowden: Naive NSA Whistleblower, Spy, or Something Else Entirely?

Where to begin with Mr. Snowden? Are we to believe that a highly paid IC contractor left his comfortable job in Hawaii, ditched his girlfriend, flew to Hong Kong and turned over a motherlode of intelligence community secrets for some sort of Manning-esque idealism?

Technology

Did China Compromise NASA Satellites?

So word is out that an upcoming congressional commission annual report will reveal that unnamed (but let’s face it, Chinese) hackers gained access to a satellite station in Norway and completed “all steps required to command the satellite” – the satellite being the Terra AM-1. Apparently another satellite was also

Technology

The J-20 Black Eagle – China’s 5th Generation Stealth Fighter

Forums, Twitter, and blogs are have been buzzing over this “new” Chinese jet for days. The quality of the jet is uncertain but props to the Chinese for excellent execution of a stealth marketing campaign – complete with the sort of grainy spy shots usually reserved for car launches. Raymond Pritchett