China killed or imprisoned 18 to 20 CIA sources from 2010 to 2012, hobbling US spying operations in a massive intelligence breach whose origin has not been identified, the New York Times reported on Saturday.
Investigators remain divided over whether there was a spy within the Central Intelligence Agency who betrayed the sources or whether the Chinese hacked the CIA‘s covert communications system, the newspaper reported, citing current and former US officials.
The Chinese killed at least a dozen people providing information to the CIA from 2010 to 2012, dismantling a network that was years in the making, the newspaper reported.
One was shot and killed in front of a government building in China, three officials told the Times, saying that was designed as a message to others about working with Washington.
The breach was considered particularly damaging, with the number of assets lost rivaling those in the Soviet Union and Russia who perished after information passed to Moscow by spies Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen, the report said. Ames was active as a spy in the 1980s and Hanssen from 1979 to 2001.
The CIA declined to comment when asked about the Times report on Saturday.
The Chinese activities began to emerge in 2010, when the American spy agency had been getting high-quality information about the Chinese government from sources deep inside the bureaucracy, including Chinese upset by the Beijing government’s corruption, four former officials told the Times.
The information began to dry up by the end of the year and the sources began disappearing in early 2011, the report said.
As more sources were killed the FBI and the CIA began a joint investigation of the breach, examining all operations run in Beijing and every employee of the US Embassy there.
The investigation ultimately centered on a former CIA operative, who worked in a division overseeing China, the newspaper said, but there was not enough evidence to arrest him.
Some investigators believed the Chinese had hacked the CIA‘s covert communications system.
Still others thought the breach was a result of careless spy work including traveling the same routes to the same meeting points or meeting sources at restaurants where Chinese had planted listening devices, the newspaper said.
By 2013, US intelligence concluded China‘s ability to identify its agents had been curtailed, the newspaper said, and the CIA has been trying to rebuild its spy network there.
Why are the CIA peddling this story now? Make no mistake this alleged leak by "around a dozen former & serving CIA/FBI employees" has an official imprimatur.
The NYT have released a wide range of CIA propaganda from lies about Iraq’s wmds to the phoney "yellowcake from Africa" beat up.
Still it does seem unlikely the NYT would publish this tale of CIA incompetence unless it is grounded in reality so the question must be, why now?
Is it because wikileaks is about to publish the story so NYT gazump him in a vain effort to ‘steal the thunder of the organisation which has repetedly highlighted CIA’s inept inability to fulfil its mission. or perhaps more likely is it because the american of Asian heritage that the FBI claims is responsible is about to be arrested and publicity is necessary to build momentum for a show trial?
We will find out soon enough, but rather than trying to fit up the unwhite closest to the door, the CIA need to be telling us all why, given China’s counter intelligence took two years to build it cases, uncover evidence of treason and obtain a sentence on those proven guilty, why didn’t the US rescue their employees during that 2 years?
My guess is they decided to sacrifice their loyal servants so as to gain the most out of them before the spies were arrested and held accountable for their treason.
Nice eh? I doubt they will be able to persuade any more of China’s bureaucrats to sell out their homeland, now everyone knows the US is perfectly happy to leave them behind.
One can be sure that the CIA has much more than just 20 operatives in China, probably in the hundreds.
I’d have dispatched them/locked them away if I were the Chinese.
Really, what else does one do with spies?
Really? Keep up the good work Beijing.
Yeah I dont know why this is news. I am sure US Black Ops does a few of these but the Chinese dont whine about it. What is more interesting is the hysterical reporting in all media including BBC that China dismantled the CIA network by killing at least 12 spies. Well, the minute China knew who they were, the network would have been dismantled. Killing them makes no difference.
CIA assets is a huge nuisance for China and Russia. There is a well-known fact in the intelligence community CIA has infiltrated and recruited “assets” from terrorist groups, jihadist groups and crime organizations within China and the so-called “Pipeline-istans”. These assets are spying, committing crimes and terrorism. One of the organizations is the Turkish/Turkic organized crime group “Grey wolfs” frequently used by US/NATO. They Grey Wolfs has been used both in China, Europe, Russia and EURASIA for assassinations, human trafficking, false flag operations, covert operations,spying and terrorism. This has US/NATO cooperation with the "Grey Wolfes" gone on for many decades.
The color revolution on Xi is upsetted for now. Give another Nobel Prize for Peace for any of the umpteen dissidents to show the Xi dude what is next in store for him.
What can tha average serf ariund the world believe———since 80% of all news is FAKE NEWS!!
I don’t think the chinese counter espionage is that naive, they must know if they have apprehended the US spies and the methods emplyed to muddy the waters.
What to do with spies? Why feed them false information of course:)
D’oh!
I wasn’t thinking strategically. My bad.
"Chinese upset at government corruption".. How dreadfully pedestrian excuse for spying. Spies are recruited through blackmail or are financially motivated. And a combination of both. The purely ideological motivation is today rare.
Mainstream media did not publish it for no reason. Except, that in US, most of the intelligence has been privatized, so knowing who is really working for whom — is never clear. Follow the trail of money. In case of Washignton Post, it is so simple. The owner is also running a good chunk of CIA under a contract. Basially, we the taxpayers pay money to private companies, so they can snoop to promote their own interests. And feed politicians stories that advance their pecuniary "humanitarianism".