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Former CIA agent, Jerry Chun Shing Lee, charged with selling identities of US spies to China – That intel scandal crippled US agency’s network 8 years ago

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"109460728"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"1">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><h6><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;050505&semi;"><strong>Jerry Chun Lee is accused of selling the identities of American agents to the Chinese eight years ago<&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;050505&semi;"><strong>Betrayal of US spies by the former CIA agent linked to 2010 &&num;8211&semi; 2012 scandal that saw China wipe out agency&&num;8217&semi;s network in that country&comma; crippling America&&num;8217&semi;s intelligence network <&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;050505&semi;"><strong>Lee&comma; 53&comma; a US citizen fluent Chinese who joined the CIA in 1994&comma; leaving 13 years later <&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;050505&semi;"><strong>He allegedly&comma; caved in when approached by Chinese agents to betray his former employer&comma; in 2010<&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;050505&semi;"><strong>The Hong Kong resident was arrested at JFK in January&comma; FBI has been investigating him for six years after finding names of agents in a bag<&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><strong><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;050505&semi;">He&&num;8217&semi;s been charged with selling this information to Chinese intelligence<&sol;span><&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<div id&equals;"articleIconLinksContainer">&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"count-text"><img class&equals;"alignnone wp-image-292748" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;05&sol;Jerry-Chun-Shing-Lee-2&period;png" alt&equals;"Jerry Chun Shing Lee 2&period;png" width&equals;"719" height&equals;"482" &sol;><strong>Jerry Chun Lee &lbrack;photo&comma; wearing blue tie&rsqb;&comma; is accused of handing the identities of American agents to the Chinese<&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<p>A former CIA agent accused of helping China unravel America&&num;8217&semi;s intelligence network in the country eight years ago has been charged by the US Justice Department with conspiring to commit espionage&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"mol-para-with-font">Jerry Chun Shing Lee&comma; 53&comma; a resident of Hong Kong&comma; was arrested at JFK airport in January&comma; six years after US officials found the names and numbers of covert agents inside two notebooks within his luggage&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Lee is accused of handing this information to the Chinese&comma; allowing them to unmask &&num;8216&semi;at least a dozen&&num;8217&semi; CIA sources and imprison six more from 2010 to 2012 in what was seen as one of the biggest US intelligence failures in decades&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8216&semi;The allegations in this case are troubling&comma;&&num;8217&semi; said Tracy Doherty-McCormick&comma; acting US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8216&semi;Conspiring with foreign agents poses a real and serious threat toward our national security&period;&&num;8217&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Lee&&num;8217&semi;s lawyer&comma; Edward MacMahon&comma; has refuted the charges&period; &&num;8216&semi;Mr&period; Lee is not a Chinese spy&comma;&&num;8217&semi; MacMahon said after his client&&num;8217&semi;s initial court appearance in February&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8216&semi;He is a loyal American who loves his country&&num;8217&semi; and served in the military and the CIA&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"artSplitter mol-img-group">&NewLine;<div class&equals;"mol-img">&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"image-wrap fff-pic"><img class&equals;"alignnone wp-image-292770" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;05&sol;Jerry-Chun-Shing-Lee-1-1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Jerry Chun Shing Lee 1&period;jpg" width&equals;"587" height&equals;"636" &sol;><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong>Lee was outed during  a visit Northern Virginia in 2012&comma;  from Hong Kong with his family&comma; where agents found two notebooks which named covert US agents<&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"container-3zJLP vertical-2XJd5">Jerry Lee&comma; a US national who speaks fluent Chinese&comma; worked for the after CIA for over 13 years joining in 1994&period; The naturalized U&period;S&period; citizen&comma; had a top-secret clearance and worked as a field agent for the Central Intelligence Agency from 1994 until 2007&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;For more than a decade&comma; he worked in a variety of overseas offices where he was trained in surveillance detection&comma; recruiting and handling informants and classified material&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Eight years ago he came under suspicion of handing the identities of American agents to the Chinese&period;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"mol-para-with-font">According to prosecutors&comma; two Chinese intelligence officers approached Lee in April 2010&comma; three years after he had left the CIA&comma; and offered to pay him for information &&num;8216&semi;relating to the national defense of the United States&&num;8217&semi;&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The Chinese officers allegedly provided Lee with email addresses so they could communicate covertly&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;A court affidavit states that in 2012&comma; Lee traveled from Hong Kong with his family to Northern Virginia&comma; investigators found two notebooks containing the names of covert US agents&comma; in his possession&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;FBI interviewed Lee five times but did not directly ask him if he had worked for the Chinese government&period; He was then allowed Lee leave the country in 2013&comma; but was placed under surveillance&comma; for more evidence &&num;8211&semi; to prove he had committed espionage&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The indictment alleges that Lee made &&num;8216&semi;numerous unexplained cash deposits&comma; and repeatedly lied to the US government during voluntary interviews when asked about travel to China and his actions overseas&period;&&num;8217&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Officials have not said why it took so long to bring charges against Lee&comma; nor detailed what materials he gave to the Chinese agents&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The case takes place amid widespread concern in the US intelligence community that Beijing has been able to cripple their operations in China&period; A 2017 report in <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;nytimes&period;com&sol;2018&sol;01&sol;16&sol;us&sol;politics&sol;cia-china-mole-arrest-jerry-chun-shing-lee&period;html&quest;emc&equals;edit&lowbar;na&lowbar;20180116&amp&semi;nl&equals;breaking-news&amp&semi;nlid&equals;58618833&amp&semi;ref&equals;cta&amp&semi;&lowbar;r&equals;0">The New York Times<&sol;a>&comma; noted that starting in 2010&comma; to the end of 2012&comma; the Chinese killed &&num;8216&semi;at least a dozen&&num;8217&semi;  CIA assets inside China and imprisoned six or more others&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The information in Lee&&num;8217&semi;s notebooks is thought to have been used by Beijing to dismantle U&period;S&period; spy operations and identify informants inside China&comma; the Times noted&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Two year before the FBI searched his hotel room&comma; the CIA had begun &&num;8220&semi;losing its informants in China&&num;8221&semi; to the tune&comma; eventually of more than a dozen killed or imprisoned&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;Some intelligence officials believed that a mole inside the C&period;I&period;A&period; was exposing its roster of informants&period; Others thought that the Chinese government had hacked the C&period;I&period;A&period;&&num;8217&semi;s covert communications used to talk to foreign sources of information&comma;&&num;8221&semi; according to the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;nytimes&period;com&sol;2018&sol;01&sol;16&sol;us&sol;politics&sol;cia-china-mole-arrest-jerry-chun-shing-lee&period;html&quest;emc&equals;edit&lowbar;na&lowbar;20180116&amp&semi;nl&equals;breaking-news&amp&semi;nlid&equals;58618833&amp&semi;ref&equals;cta&amp&semi;&lowbar;r&equals;0">Times<&sol;a>&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The report further stated that the hunt for a &&num;8216&semi;mole&&num;8217&semi; in the agency had led to one person&comma; a &&num;8216&semi;former operative&&num;8217&semi; now living elsewhere in Asia&period; The agency at the time did not have enough information to make an arrest&comma; the Times reported&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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