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[How in the world did this guy get a security clearance. Would never of happened in the 80’s and before!]

Native level language skills plus ability to blend in. The language aspect alone was sufficient for giving Larry Chin access to the crown jewels, which he pawned to the Chinese.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Wu-tai_Chin

Fact is there’s probably an army of native speakers of Chinese working the China beat, both in intelligence and counter-intelligence. How was a non-Chinese agent or a non-native speaker supposed to convince a Chinese spy stateside that he was a (Chinese) Ministry of State Security case officer subbed in because the regular guy was ill or otherwise indisposed? This was how the FBI bagged a number of Chinese spies/moles on US soil.