Counterintelligence News for the week of:

November 13 - 19, 2005

Bail ordered for brother in Chinese spy case

A federal judge ordered the release on bail Friday of a Chinese-American engineer held on accusations of stealing U.S. military secrets, but ordered his younger brother held until another hearing later this month. U.S. Magistrate Judge Marc Goldman set Chi Mak’s bond at $300,000 and placed him in home detention with a global positioning system to monitor his movements….(San Mateo Daily Journal, 19 Nov 05)

Prosecutor in Leak Case Calls for New Grand Jury

The special prosecutor in the C.I.A. leak case said on Friday that he would use a new grand jury in his continuing investigation, a development that seemed certain to extend the political cloud hanging over the Bush administration and could draw new players into the investigation…..(New York Times, 19 Nov 05)

Another Grand Jury for Leak Case
The prosecutor in the CIA leak case said yesterday that he plans to present evidence to another federal grand jury, signaling a new and potentially significant turn in the investigation into the unmasking of CIA operative Valerie Plame…..(Washington Post, 19 Nov 05)

Downey Man Is Granted Bond

A U.S. magistrate granted bond Friday to a Downey engineer who was cleared this week of multiple charges of conspiring to steal classified U.S. military secrets for China. Magistrate Marc L. Goldman said that because Chi Mak, 65, is now facing a single charge of failing to register as an agent of a foreign government — a charge that does not involve classified material — he should be allowed to post a $300,000 bond…..(LA Times, 19 Nov 05)

Henry Waldo Dearborn CIA Cartographer

Henry Waldo Dearborn, 87, a retired cartographer with the Central Intelligence Agency, died of prostate cancer Oct. 27 at his home in Reston….(Washington Post, 19 Nov 05)

Mariada Bourgin; Began Anti-Castro Radio

Mariada C. Bourgin, 92, who organized a Washington-based radio network to be beamed into Cuba in the 1960s, died Nov. 10 at the Washington Home nursing facility in the District…..(Washington Post, 18 Nov 05)

John Anthony 'Tony' Colson Intelligence Analyst

John Anthony "Tony" Colson, 61, retired senior intelligence analyst for the Defense Intelligence Agency, died Nov. 11 at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington after cancer surgery in July….(Washington Post, 18 Nov 05)

Hi-Tech Theft Deals Blow to Samsung
Four current and former employees of Samsung Electronics were charged for smuggling out mobile phone technologies to China in a potential industrial espionage case which could have cost the handset industry up to 8.8 trillion won. Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said on Thursday that it arrested an engineer of Samsung Electronics identified only by the surname Jung and a former employee named Chae. The two were charged for stealing documents and blueprints of a 25-billion-won project from March to set up their own business….(Korea Times, 18 Nov 05)

Onetime Espionage Suspect Is Arrested

… Fuk Heung Li of Alhambra was named in a criminal complaint filed Tuesday, the same day she was cleared of the previous accusations. According to an FBI affidavit, Fuk admitted she was involved with a company that paid U.S. citizens thousands of dollars to travel to China and enter into fraudulent marriages with people wanting to immigrate to America.…(LA Times, 18 Nov 05)

Hadley Won't Say if He's Woodward's Source

National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley won't say if he was the source who told Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward that Bush administration critic Joseph Wilson's wife worked for the CIA. But Hadley volunteered on Friday that some administration officials say he's not the leaker…..(AP, 18 Nov 05)

Foreign Network at Front of CIA's Terror Fight
The CIA has established joint operation centers in more than two dozen countries where U.S. and foreign intelligence officers work side by side to track and capture suspected terrorists and to destroy or penetrate their networks, according to current and former American and foreign intelligence officials…..(Washington Post, 18 Nov 05)

Defense consulted 'spy' on Stealth
Australian defense officials asked a US engineer accused of selling US military secrets to set up a Canberra company so they could develop stealth technology for the RAAF.  Australian defense employee Arthur Lazarou, a business partner of jailed American Noshir Gowadia, said Defense Department officials issued the request after a two-day briefing with the visiting US engineer over his work on the B-2 stealth bomber….(Courier Mail, 18 Nov 05)

Intelligence lessons 'not learned'

Intelligence failures led to the London bombings and lessons have still not been learned, a former Government intelligence analyst has said. Crispin Black said the UK should open itself to "pitiless" scrutiny in the form of a public inquiry in order to prevent another attack occurring…...(Scotsman, 18 Nov 05)

Israel Arrests Former Spy In The West Bank
Former nuclear spy and one time technician Mordechai Vanunu is arrested by Israeli police Friday, after traveling to the West Bank….(All Headline News, 18 Nov 05)

Bush needles China as three are held in US on spy charges

…Counter-espionage experts believe the leak of sensitive information over a 15-year period, including hundreds of thousands of documents relating to attack submarines, electromagnetic artillery and early-warning nuclear technology, is one of the most damaging breaches of national security ever to hit the United States…..(Scotsman, 17 Nov 05)

Drafted for Intelligence Probe

The leaders of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence have drafted a schedule for their probe into whether the Bush administration exaggerated prewar intelligence about Iraq, but they said they cannot set a date for its completion…..(Washington Post, 17 Nov 05)

Trio held in L.A. as spies for Beijing

A Chinese intelligence-gathering ring in Los Angeles provided Beijing's military with details of a new small U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle, along with some of the U.S. military's most advanced high-technology weapons data, according to Bush administration officials close to the case…..(Washington Times, 17 Nov 05)

ID cards useless, says ex-spy chief
The former spy chief Stella Rimington last night criticized government plans to introduce ID cards, saying no one in the intelligence services favored the scheme. Speaking at a meeting of college heads the former director general of MI5 said the cards would not make the country safer and warned that the likelihood of forgery could make them "absolutely useless"…..(Guardian, 17 Nov 05)

Alleged US Spy sought $3m from ADF

The Indian-born American's expertise in sensitive infra-red suppression technologies - the basis of the B-2 bomber's capacity to evade heat-seeking missiles - is at the heart of the espionage case brought against him by US authorities last month. A senior Government source told The Australian last night that a Defence Department investigation into Noshir Gowadia's attempt to sell top-secret infra-red suppression technology to Australia was being taken very seriously…..(Australian 17 Nov 05)

New Disclosure Could Prolong Inquiry on Leak

The disclosure that a current or former Bush administration official told Bob Woodward of The Washington Post more than two years ago that the wife of a prominent administration critic worked for the C.I.A. threatened Wednesday to prolong a politically damaging leak investigation that the White House had hoped would soon be contained….(New York Times, 17 Nov 05)

Judge Finds Post Reporter in Contempt

A federal judge found Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus in contempt Wednesday, saying the journalist must reveal his government sources for stories about the criminal investigation of nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee.  U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer said that "in order to avoid a repetition of the Judith Miller imbroglio," Pincus must contact his sources to inform them of the court's order in case they wish to release him from his pledge of confidentiality…..(AP, 16 Nov 05)

Woodward Was Told of Plame More Than Two Years Ago

Washington Post Assistant Managing Editor Bob Woodward testified under oath Monday in the CIA leak case that a senior administration official told him about CIA operative Valerie Plame and her position at the agency nearly a month before her identity was disclosed….(Washington Post, 16 Nov 05)

Testifying in the CIA Leak Case
On Monday, November 14, I testified under oath in a sworn deposition to Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald for more than two hours about small portions of interviews I conducted with three current or former Bush administration officials that relate to the investigation of the public disclosure of the identity of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame…..(Washington Post, 16 Nov 05)

Australian linked to spy scandal

An Australian defense employee has become embroiled in an international espionage scandal involving the alleged sale of top-secret American B-2 Stealth bomber technology to foreign powers. Defense Materiel Organization officer Arthur Lazarou, a retired Royal Australian Navy lieutenant commander, is the subject of an internal Defense investigation over his links to American engineer Noshir Gowadia, who was charged late last month with disclosing military secrets - which could be "used to cause injury" to the US - to representatives from eight foreign governments and corporations…..(Australian, 16 Nov 05)

Immigrants' Charges Short of Allegations

The federal charge against three Chinese immigrants _ failing to register as foreign agents _ is a far cry from what investigators first alleged: a broad plot to steal secrets behind U.S. warship technology…..(AP, 16 Nov 05)

Three Chinese citizens charged by US Attorney with acting as foreign agents for People's Republic of China

A federal grand jury in Los Angeles today indicted three Chinese natives on charges of acting as agents of a foreign government without prior notification to the Attorney General of the United States. The indictment against the three defendants supersedes a criminal complaint filed on October 28 that accused them of theft of government property.….(Law Fuel, 16 Nov 05)

Engineer Indicted As Chinese Agent
A federal grand jury indicted a military engineer, his wife and his brother Tuesday for failing to register as Chinese agents in a case that the FBI had said involved an attempt to smuggle "extremely sensitive" U.S. warship technology to China…..(Washington Post, 16 Nov 05)

Conspiracy Charges Dropped

…When arrested by the FBI last month, defense plant engineer Chi Mak, his wife, Rebecca Laiwah Chiu, and his brother, Tai Wang Mak, were accused of theft of government property, conspiracy and transporting stolen goods. Those charges were dropped Tuesday…..(LA Times. 16 Nov 05)

China spy 'agents' charged in US

An engineer working for a defence contractor in California and two of his relatives have been charged with acting as agents of China. Chi Mak, his wife, Rebecca Laiwah Chiu, and his brother, Tai Wang Mak, face up to 10 years in jail if convicted. However, a federal court indictment did not charge them with the more serious crime of espionage….(BBC, 16 Nov 05)

Iran Now Says Satellite Can Spy on Israel

Iran said the satellite would be purely scientific. But a month after its launch _ and only weeks after the president said Israel should be wiped off the map _ the head of Tehran's space program now says the Sina-1 is capable of spying on the Jewish state…..(AP, 16 Nov 05)

Bulgaria’s Former Foreign Minister Under Further Investigation

The Sofia City Prosecution announced yesterday that foreign investigators had managed to trace the passage of classified information through the Bulgarian satellite communication system….(Sofia Echo, 16 Nov 05)

Lebanon: UN commission suspected of spying for Israel

The Lebanese Hezbollah accuses the team headed by Detlev Mehlis, appointed by the UN Security Council to investigate into the assassination of Rafiq Hariri, to have misused its investigating powers in Lebanon to carry out spy services for the benefit of the Israeli government….(Arab Monitor, 16 Nov 05)

Finland tightens policy towards Russian espionage

Finland has quietly changed its policy toward diplomats known to be spies and toward other professionals of illegal intelligence. Once the first term in the embassy is over, they are not admitted into the country again….(Helsinginsonomat, 16 Nov 05)

Ex-spy chiefs jailed in wiretap investigation

The Seoul Central District Court last night issued detention warrants sought by the prosecution and naming two former intelligence agency heads. The warrants were to have been executed before midnight yesterday; both men have denied the charges…..(JoongAng Daily, 16 Nov 05)

Getting Spy Reform Wrong

It has been more than four years since the surprise attack on the World Trade Center, the worst failure of American defenses since Pearl Harbor. Within four years of Pearl Harbor we had created, staffed and deployed the Office of Strategic Services, a new and effective intelligence agency…..(Washington Post, 16 Nov 05)

Castro has Parkinson’s disease, CIA conclude

The CIA has concluded that Cuban leader Fidel Castro suffers from Parkinson's disease and has warned US policy-makers to be ready for trouble if the 79-year-old President's health erodes over the next few years….(Australian, 16 Nov 05)

Industrial Espionage: UK's MI5 Concerned Over Immigrating Spies

The almost legendary MI5 British counterintelligence service is said to be deeply concerned over an increase in spying by Chinese operatives in the United Kingdom. Although intelligence experts aren't certain how widespread the problem is, they believe the espionage is rampant and a serious consequence of the global economy….(News By Us, 16 Nov 05)

Ex-intelligence officials rap Rove

Sixteen former CIA and military intelligence officials yesterday urged President Bush to suspend the security clearance of his top political adviser, Karl Rove, following revelations that he played a role in outing CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson…..(Knight Ridder, 16 Nov 05)

1979: Blunt revealed as 'fourth man'

The Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, has named Sir Anthony Blunt, a former security service officer and personal adviser on art to the Queen as the "fourth man" in the Cambridge spy ring…..(BBC, 16 Nov 05)

EU to build network of spy satellites
The European Union is building its own network of spy satellites allowing Brussels to ensure nations and private individuals are obeying its policies, it was announced yesterday. The multi-billion-pound system, known as "Global Monitoring for Environment and Security" (GMES), should be up and running by 2010, a commission spokesman said….(Telegraph, 15 Nov 05)

Canada’s troubling links with a family of spies

By day, Chi Mak worked as an electrical engineer for Power Paragon-one of the world’s most powerful military contractors that provided advanced technology for warplanes, tanks, submarines and navy ships. His life was typical of a Los Angeles upper-middle class Chinese-American family shared with his wife Rebecca Laiwah Chiu, brother Tai Wang Mak, a Chinese TV director and his brother‘s wife, Fuk Heung Li….(Asian Pacific Post, 15 Aug 05)

Three Charged in US with Being Agents for China

.…(Reuters, 15 Nov 05)

US charges China-born immigrants with acting as agents for Beijing
A Chinese-born engineer and two relatives accused of stealing sensitive US Navy warship technology and trying to smuggle it to China have been charged with acting as agents for Beijing. But an indictment handed down by a US grand jury did not charge the trio with the far more serious offence of espionage…(Forbes, 15 Nov 05)

Canada Introduces Eavesdropping Bill

Canada's Liberal government introduced a bill Tuesday that would allow police and intelligence officials to demand personal information about telephone and Internet subscribers….(AP, 15 Nov 05)

Serbian official under investigation for renting Israeli spy satellite

Serbia-Montenegro's former defense minister is under investigation for a "damaging" deal to rent an Israeli spy satellite, the military said Tuesday.  Prvoslav Davinic, who resigned last September amid a separate scandal involving the purchase of military gear, signed the deal with ImageSat International in June….(AP, 15 Nov 05)

Dow Jones Seeks Access To Documents In Libby Case

The prosecutor in the CIA leak case has sparked another fight with the news media, this time over access to material that prosecutors will turn over to attorneys for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby…..(AP, 15 Nov 05)

William Baker; Bell Labs Chief Advised Six Presidents

William O. Baker, 90, a former president of Bell Labs who advised U.S. presidents on intelligence gathering and oversaw researchers who won back-to-back Nobel prizes, including for work underpinning the big-bang theory of the origin of the universe, died Oct. 31….(AP, 15 Nov 05)