Chinese Spies in the Land of the Free
Just caught this on CNN as I’m going to bed (to recover from CNY) and decided to throw it up first. I’ll edit in my comments later.
WASHINGTON (CNN) — A U.S. Defense Department civilian employee has been indicted on espionage-related charges involving efforts to provide secret military technology to China, officials close to the case said.
According to the AP, the five are to be charged with illegally smuggling out information from places such as research facilities, labs or universities that had access to the secret material. …more.
Sidenote: Interestingly, my internet cut out moments after searching for “Wen Ho Lee” and “Chinese spy acquited.” GFW filters maybe? Maybe.
Edit: So…I’m finally getting around to adding my comments here. By the way, the article linked to above has been updated over time.
My first reaction was to think of Wen Ho Lee, the Taiwan-born Las Alamos National Labs scientist that the United States government (and media) persecuted for accused of spying for China back around the turn of the millenium. This time, however, they were smart enough to put a white guy at the forefront and keep the Chinese people slightly more on the periphery. That’s definitely one way to lower the risk of this immediately being labeled as racial profiling.
My second reaction was to remark at how awfully cynical and skeptical I am when it comes to what the United States government says or does. Michael Moore would be proud. Do I believe spying, espionage, and treason happens? Most certainly. In the United States? Of course? By the United States? You can be sure of it.
Do I think this news comes at an awfully convenient time? Maybe.
On one hand, news like this certainly feeds into the growing anxieties American’s have against China. With rising trade imbalances, an economy sliding into possible recession, and a government that just isn’t that popular, it would be nice to shift attention towards that largely mysterious (to most Americans) pseudo-communist country far far away. I mean, hell, with all the recent hard-to-forget news about tainted pet food, poisonous toothpaste, and toys with lead, why not throw some Chinese spies in for good measure?
On the other hand, it isn’t entirely implausible.
I mean, if I was China, I’d definitely have some “assets” in that hegemonic monster of a country known as the United States of Fucking America (yeah!). There’d be plenty of awesome “super-power” secrets for me to find that would invariably help my own efforts towards climbing the world ladder…like the Colonel’s secret blend of 11 herbs and spices that makes chicken so finger-lickin’ good!
Okay okay, I’ll be serious. The problem I find myself torn with is questioning the many possible and political motives of the United States government with such “news” and the entirely possible, plausible, and probable fact that there are on-going Chinese intelligence efforts targeted at the United States (and they were caught this time).
It really is pretty damn delicious. The coleslaw too.
And in other news: Berkeley, again, is just begging for an ass-kicking (can we add that to its list of “things to do?”).
Tags: espionage, indictment, national security, secret military technology, spy, wen ho lee
February 12th, 2008 at 4:19 am
I think we should put people like this to death, its hard to tell how many have already died from people like this . Cnn reports “relentless efforts by foreign intelligence for Americas secrets” , then why do we deal with countries like China? Think about it…. folow the money trail and it ends back here (USA). The rich man making what he can off the woring man. To bad we dont boy cot all forien made goods.
February 12th, 2008 at 4:22 am
i also agree we should execute these traitors….china needs to be warned that we would not tolerate this type of activities…
February 12th, 2008 at 5:00 am
Agreed, only America should be allowed to spy on the other countries because we have the best interest of the world and stuff.
We should ALL stop buying all Chinese items.
And Mexico stuff.
And Russian items.
It just takes away jobs.
February 12th, 2008 at 5:31 am
American spies in other countries are even more crazy.
February 12th, 2008 at 5:39 am
It is interesting how news like this can be analyzed in a unilateral fashion and ultimately be used to feed the conservative nationalist blindness here in the U.S.
According to Kenneth Wainstein, assistant attorney general for national security “These two cases plainly represent the magnitude of the threat we face. … It’s a threat to our national security and to our economic position in the world … a threat that is posed by the relentless efforts by foreign intelligence services to penetrate our security systems.” Mr. Wainstein’s declaration was clearly made to a public that is conditioned to see just one side of these events (and of history as a whole).
The U.S. is obviously not a victim in this process, but only another player in the game of information collection countries play. Just think about how many other Valerie Plames are still out there. This type of declaration can feed ignorance and clearly extends the spectrum of sources of the so called “threat”. The many times recycled discourse involving national security is being expanded and now it not only incorporates religious fundamentalists, but also “foreign intelligence services” and whole foreign nations. It would only be natural if other nations reciprocated and saw the same type of “threat” coming from the U.S., exemplified by the Hainan Island incident.
Unfortunately, groups inside the American society view the war against terrorism as an opportunity to ascend to power and use any chance they have to justify their existence and perpetuate their position.
April 29th, 2008 at 1:04 am
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November 13th, 2008 at 11:26 am
losi3y02asfukxa5
June 14th, 2010 at 7:25 pm
I hear ya too. They were the best.