Posted on 05/11/2005 6:52:44 PM PDT by wagglebee
China is expanding its espionage network along with its buildup of conventional military power, a new Pentagon report reveals.
Since the mid-1980s China has developed the world's third-largest spy system, after the U.S. and Russia, according to the "Intelligence Threat Handbook" distributed to Pentagon personnel.
"This makes China's strategic clout greater and demonstrates why many nations, and many Americans, are concerned about a future threat from China," said Larry Wortzel, a defense fellow at the Heritage Foundation.
China now electronically monitors signals from India, Japan, Russia, South Korea, Taiwan and Southeast Asia, the handbook discloses.
"Signals from U.S. military units located in the region are of particular interest to these monitoring stations."
China stepped up efforts to improve its intelligence operations after the nation was surprised by America's move to send an aircraft carrier near Taiwan in response to China's firing of missiles over the island to protest Taiwan's first presidential election.
"When you get ‘surprised' as a nation you want to ask yourself whether you want to be surprised again or whether you want to develop the capability to not be surprised," General Paul Hester, commander of Pacific Air Forces, told reporters in April.
"They are developing the capability to not be surprised and to be able to see farther away from their shorelines than they could in 1996."
At present China has only a limited ability to take spy satellite photos, although U.S. intelligence agencies believe it will "probably develop" a satellite camera system that can take high-resolution images, the handbook says.
China also had the potential for a far-flung human spy system in the U.S. In addition to seven diplomatic missions and 2,750 commercial offices here, there are an estimated 100,000 current and former students from China, according to the handbook.
"Chinese human intelligence operations rely on collecting a small amount of information from a large number" of ethnic Chinese and agents try to "recruit or at least ‘make friends' with as many Chinese-Americans as possible, apparently hoping that some will perceive an obligation to help China, perhaps on a confidential basis."
China has also sent agents to the U.S. "to become long-term sleepers," the book says.
This human spy system has the potential to "overwhelm U.S. law enforcement and counter-intelligence because of the sheer quantity of operations they undertake."
The handbook was produced by the Pentagon's Greenbelt, Maryland-based Operational Security Support Staff.
And they maintain their "cover" with a steady stream of donations to the 'Rats.
That's it, blow their cover. Now they've been ratted out.
Does anyone remember that Chinese search website that Clinton was shilling for a few months ago? Accoona at http://www.accoona.com
I was looking at that thing earlier today and decided that there was something very bizarre about its setup and tie with the China Daily.
And crummy takeout restaurants.
And yet there are lots of folks on this site saying that China is actually peaceful since it is only interested in 'Ahem' FREE TRADE.
H1Bs. They are in corporate HQs, national labs and the like. Most screening processes for H1Bs do not attempt to detect whether or not they have unaccountable periods in their past (e.g. when they were non undercover intel assets or PLA). Amongst the H1Bs currently working in the US are embedded PLA and intel assets.
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