Is There A Spy In Putin's Inner Circle?

Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently been physically separating himself from staff and other world leaders with big tables. (AP: Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo)  

Carrington Clarke and Peter Jones, ABC News Australia: The US anticipated almost every move Vladimir Putin made in Ukraine. This is how they probably did it 

While the United States did not stop the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Biden administration seemed to see it coming in extraordinary detail. 

In the weeks leading up to the invasion on February 24, as Russia amassed troops and hardware on its neighbour's borders, senior US officials warned an attack was imminent, despite repeated Kremlin denials. 

As Russia menaced Ukraine from afar, even the Ukrainian government at times dismissed the build-up as bluster rather than a precursor to war. 

Reporters asked US President Joe Biden why he was so convinced that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin had decided to invade Ukraine. 

"We have a significant intelligence capability," he responded simply. 

Mr Biden also claimed to know exactly what Mr Putin had in the pipeline — down to specific dates. 

It was as if US intelligence services had tapped into the mind of a foreign leader notorious for guarding his secrets. 

So was the US bluffing or did it really know what Russia had planned?  

Read more ....  

WNU Editor: A lot of speculation in the above post.

U.S. Justice Department Ends National Security Program Set Up To Combat Chinese Espionage

Daily Mail: Biden's DOJ ENDS Trump national security program set up to combat Chinese espionage following complaints it discriminated against Asian-American professors and led to failed prosecutions of academics 

The Justice Department is ditching the China Initiative, a national security program designed to tackle Chinese economic espionage in the US after a string of cases collapsed amid complaints it was fueling suspicion against Chinese Americans. 

It was launched by the Trump administration three years ago amid concerns of intellectual property theft at research universities. 

Matthew Olsen, assistant attorney general for national security, announced a change of strategy Wednesday.  

Read more .... 

U.S. Justice Department Ends National Security Program Set Up To Combat Chinese Espionage  

DOJ shuts down China-focused anti-espionage program -- Politico 

Biden DOJ ending national security initiative aimed at countering China amid complaints about bias -- FOX News  

Justice Department ends Trump-era China Initiative following bias concerns -- CNN  

DOJ scraps Trump-era China Initiative for broader national security program -- The Hill 

Justice Department drops China spy initiative as past target speaks out -- CBS News  

DOJ ending Trump-era 'China Initiative'; national security program fueled Asian 'intolerance, bias' -- USA Today  

DOJ ends China Initiative after racial profiling accusations -- Axios

FBI Arrest US Nuclear Submarine Engineer And His Wife Trying To Sell US Nuclear Secrets To A Foreign Country

 

Daily Mail: US nuclear submarine engineer and his wife are charged with passing secrets to a foreign government hidden in PEANUT BUTTER sandwiches after being paid $70,000 in crypto – but they were actually dealing with undercover FBI agents 

* Navy nuclear engineer Jonathan Toebe, 42, and wife, Diana, 49, were charged Saturday with selling secret information to an unidentified foreign country 

* The classified information contained military secrets, specifically on the nuclear Virginia-class submarines 

* Court records show that Toebe unwittingly communicated with FBI agents about these secrets in a scheme that stretched from December 2020 until now 

* Toebbe received separate cryptocurrency payments totaling $100,000, according to the Justice Department 

* He and his wife have been charged with conspiracy and 'communication of restricted data,' according to a criminal complaint obtained by Dailymail.com 

A U.S. Navy nuclear engineer and his wife have been charged with selling secret information about nuclear submarines to an undercover FBI agent who posed as an operative for a foreign country, the Justice Department said on Sunday. 

In a criminal complaint detailing espionage-related charges against Jonathan Toebbe, 42, and his wife Diana, 45, the government said he sold information for nearly the past year to a foreign power representative. 

The FBI says in April 2020 Toebbe sent a package of Navy documents to a foreign government and wrote that he was interested in selling information on Virginia-class nuclear submarine reactors.  

Read more .... 

More News On The FBI Arresting A US Nuclear Submarine Engineer And His Wife Trying To Sell US Nuclear Secrets To A Foreign Country  

Navy Nuclear Engineer Attempted Espionage, FBI Says -- New York Times 

FBI sting operation nets couple accused of trying to sell US nuclear secrets -- CNN  

Navy nuclear engineer charged with trying to pass secrets -- FOX News/AP  

U.S. Navy engineer, wife accused of selling secrets to foreign nation -- UPI 

U.S. Navy engineer, wife charged with selling submarine secrets -- Reuters 

Navy Nuclear Engineer and Wife Arrested in Counter-Espionage Raid -- The Western Journal 

FBI arrests Maryland engineer and wife for selling restricted nuclear information -- Washington Examiner  

Engineer Sold Nuclear Submarine Data, But ‘Foreign Power’ Rep Was Really Undercover FBI Agent: DOJ -- Law & Crime  

Navy nuclear engineer and wife charged for attempted espionage -- Axios

This Is How The US Secretly Moved Russia Air Defence System From Libya

The captured Pantsir-S1 in Libya before shipment to Ramstein Air Base in Germany (Picture source: Twitter account of Tango III's Military News @IiiTango) 

National Interest, Pantsir: How America Got Its Hands on Russia's Killer Air Defense System 

This is a wild tale of Russian mercenaries, Libyan rebels, and clandestine flights to Europe. 

The U.S. Air Force transported a Russian-made Pantsir air defense system out of Libya last summer, The Times reported, stating that an Air Force C-17 Globemaster flew to Zuwara airport, west of Tripoli, loaded the Pantsir, and flew onward to Ramstein Air Base in Germany. 

Intelligence Value 

Though the immediate reason for removing the Pantsir from Libya was likely to ensure the air defense system didn’t fall into nefarious hand and be used against targets like civilian airliners, there could also be an intelligence incentive for the United States. 

“Export versions, such as the one captured in Libya,” The Times explained, “are supposedly stripped of a carefully guarded identification friend or foe database with the transponder codes for all Russian air force jets. 

The system is capable of engaging multiple targets from low altitudes up to 50,000 feet and has a range of about 20 miles.” 

Read more .... 

 More News On How The US Secretly Moved Russia Air Defence System From Libya 

US secretly moved Russia air defence system from Libya, report reveals -- Middle East Monitor 

Pantsir in US hands is terrible news but not a tragedy -- Army Recognition 

The Times: US flew Russian air defense system from Libya to Germany -- Libya Observer 

U.S. smuggles Russian anti-aircraft missile system out of Libya - report -- Ahval

Pentagon Linguist Charged With Espionage For Exposing U.S. Spies To Hezbollah

A supporter of Lebanon's Hezbollah gestures as he holds a Hezbollah flag in Marjayoun. Reuters

CNBC: Defense Department linguist in Iraq charged with espionage, shared secret names with romantic interest, prosecutors say

* A Defense Department linguist has been charged with espionage after allegedly sharing classified information about active human intelligence assets with a person connected to the terrorist group Hezbollah.
* Mariam Taha Thompson, 61, was arrested last Thursday at a U.S. Special Operations Task Force facility in Erbil, Iraq, where she worked as a contract linguist, and held Top Secret security clearances.
* Thompson shared the true names of intelligence sources with a co-conspirator, “in whom she had a romantic interest,” court records say.

A Defense Department linguist has been charged with espionage after allegedly sharing classified information about active human intelligence assets with a person connected to the terrorist group Hezbollah, authorities said Wednesday.

Mariam Taha Thompson, 61, was arrested last Thursday at a U.S. Special Operations Task Force facility in Erbil, Iraq, where she worked as a contract linguist, and held Top Secret security clearances, according to court records.

Authorities said Thompson shared the true names of intelligence sources with a co-conspirator, a Lebanese national in whom she had a romantic interest.”

Read more ....

WNU Editor: My gut tells me that they only found out about her because people started to disappear.

More News On A Pentagon Linguist Charged With Espionage For Exposing U.S. Spies To Hezbollah

U.S. Defense linguist charged with transmitting classified intelligence -- Reuters
US defense contractor charged with transmitting classified information to a foreign national with ties to Hezbollah -- CNN
US defence department linguist charged with espionage -- BBC
Pentagon linguist exposed U.S. sources in Iraq, feds say -- CBS
Pentagon linguist faces espionage charges after allegedly sharing secrets with Hezbollah -- ABC News
DOD linguist charged with giving classified info to Lebanese national with ties to Hezbollah: DOJ -- FOX News
Pentagon Linguist Charged with Exposing U.S. Spies to Hezbollah -- National Review

Washington Cracking Down On Chinese Intelligence Operations Targeting The U.S.

Bill Gerta, Asia Times: The American crackdown on Chinese intelligence

Trump is testing China to see if their economic miracle can continue without infusions of American know-how

After decades of all but ignoring large-scale Chinese intelligence operations targeting the United States, the US government is engaged in a major crackdown on Beijing spying and technology theft.

Almost on a monthly basis, the US Department of Justice announces the arrest of people facing various charges related to the theft of American secrets or similar intelligence activities.

Last month, the FBI arrested Chinese government official Zhongsan Liu on visa fraud charges that masked his role in directing a major Chinese government operation to obtain American technology by recruiting experts at high-technology universities.

Read more ....

WNU Editor:  Long overdue.

A Crazy Cold War Story

Image: Wikimedia.

Michael Peck, National Interest: Russia Got Its Hands on This 'Mini SR-71' Mach 3 Spy Drone (To Steal Its Secrets)

A crazy Cold War story.

Once the unmanned aircraft returned to base, the film canister would be ejected and land by parachute, after which the drone itself would land.

In November 1969, the U.S. Air Force sent Russia an early Christmas gift.

It was a sleek flying machine that bore an uncanny resemblance to the SR-71 Blackbird spy plane.

The American generosity was purely unintentional. The aircraft was actually a cutting-edge drone dispatched on a mission to photograph Communist Chinese nuclear sites. And the drone did what it was supposed to until it failed to turn around, and kept on going north into Siberia before crashing.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: The Cold War was definitely a desperate time.

U.S. Arrests A Former Engineer And A Chinese Businessman For Stealing GE Secrets

A man takes a picture of a General Electric (GE) engine during the China International Import Expo (CIIE), at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai, China November 6, 2018. REUTERS/Aly Song

Reuters: U.S. accuses pair of stealing secrets, spying on GE to aid China

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former engineer and a Chinese businessman have been charged with economic espionage and conspiring to steal trade secrets from General Electric Co to benefit China, according to an indictment unsealed by the U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday.

The indictment against the former GE engineer, Xiaoqing Zheng, and Chinese businessman Zhaoxi Zhang, comes after Zheng was initially charged in August in connection with the alleged theft. It marks the first time the U.S. government has formally said the scheme was carried out to benefit China and that the Chinese government provided “financial and other support.”

According to the indictment, Zheng stole the proprietary data on GE’s turbine technology by encrypting the files on his computer and secretly embedding them into a digital photograph of sunset before emailing the photograph to his personal email.

Zheng, 56, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday and was allowed to remain free on bond. His attorney Kevin Luibrand declined to comment.

Read more ....

Update: U.S. charges American engineer, Chinese businessman with stealing GE’s trade secrets (The Washington Post)

WNU Editor: The Chinese have always wanted access to America's aviation tech. These arrests surprise no one.

Chinese National Arrested By U.S. Authorities For Exporting Devices That Couls Be Used For Anti-Submarine Warfare

Shuren Qin will make his first court appearance on Friday.

SCMP: US accuses trader Qin Shuren of smuggling anti-submarine devices to China

Qin is alleged to have exported hydrophones to Northwestern Polytechnical University, a Chinese military research institute

The head of a company that distributes marine-related products was arrested on Thursday on US charges that he conspired with an entity affiliated with China’s armed forces to export devices that could be used in anti-submarine warfare.

Qin Shuren, a Chinese national living in Wellesley, Massachusetts, was charged in a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Boston with visa fraud and conspiring to commit violations of US export regulations.

Prosecutors said the 41-year-old was arrested on Thursday and would make his first court appearance on Friday.

A lawyer for Qin did not respond to a request for comment.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: A Chinese national who becomes a lawful permanent resident of the United States in 2014 .... but who has more than enough money to open and run several China-based companies that imports goods from the United States and Europe with applications in underwater or marine technologies .... something does not add up here.

Chinese Naval Manager Is Alleged To Have Sold To The CIA Chinese Aircraft Carrier Intel

A file photo of the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning. Photo: Xinhua

Asia Times: Disgraced manager at shipbuilding juggernaut allegedly ‘sold Chinese carrier intel to CIA’

Sun Bo is under a probe for graft and rumored espionage; meanwhile a new rendering of a future carrier without a ski-jump bow is released and then deleted.

A disgraced senior executive of the state-owned China Shipbuilding Industry Corp (CSIC) is said to have fed US spies highly classified information, including the design and specifications of the Liaoning aircraft carrier that underwent years of refurbishment at CSIC’s Dalian Shipyard.

CSIC general manager Sun Bo, the second-highest-ranking executive at the shipbuilding juggernaut, has run afoul of graft and crime busters at the National Supervision Commission and the Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and is under investigation for “gross violation of laws and party discipline,” according to a one-line notice posted last week on the two commissions’ joint website that is devoid of any further details.

Sun’s last public appearance was on June 11 during an inspection trip to a CSIC logistics subsidiary.

Read more ....

Update: China Investigates Shipyard Exec For Giving CIA Secrets About Aircraft Carrier (Sputnik)

WNU Editor: If convicted, he will be facing the death penalty. There is one question that needs to be answered. If he did sell Chinese secrets to the CIA, how did the Chinese find out?

What Exactly Did The Chinese Hack From The U.S. Navy?

Elaborate mockups of the missile were being shown off by the mid-2000s. ONR via F-16.net

Warzone/The Drive: What Secretive Anti-Ship Missile Did China Hack From The U.S. Navy?

Details surrounding the Navy's Sea Dragon program remain scarce, but there are some distinct possibilities.

China's relentless cyber espionage campaign against the Pentagon has been one of the central reasons why that country's technological warfighting capabilities have aggressively matured over a relatively short period of time. In fact, we now see the fruits of their hacking operations on a daily basis via advanced 'indigenous' weapon systems, some which are now entering into operational service. But a previously unreported intrusion into a Navy contractor's computer network has provided the Chinese military with information on the service's electronic warfare and threat library, cryptographic radio systems used on submarines, specific sensor data, and detailed information on a previously undisclosed and fast-paced initiative to field a supersonic anti-ship missile onto American nuclear submarines dubbed Sea Dragon.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: The U.S. Navy is not providing details ..... but it looks like this Chinese hack is bad .... really bad.

The Chinese Are Buying-Up ‘The Crown Jewels’ Of U.S. Technology

National flags of U.S. and China wave in front of an international hotel in Beijing February 4, 2010. REUTERS/Jason Lee

Politico: How China acquires ‘the crown jewels’ of U.S. technology

The U.S. fails to adequately police foreign deals for next-generation software that powers the military and American economic strength.

The U.S. government was well aware of China’s aggressive strategy of leveraging private investors to buy up the latest American technology when, early last year, a company called Avatar Integrated Systems showed up at a bankruptcy court in Delaware hoping to buy the California chip-designer ATop Tech.

ATop’s product was potentially groundbreaking — an automated designer capable of making microchips that could power anything from smartphones to high-tech weapons systems. It’s the type of product that a U.S. government report had recently cited as “critical to defense systems and U.S. military strength.” And the source of the money behind the buyer, Avatar, was an eye-opener: Its board chairman and sole officer was a Chinese steel magnate whose Hong Kong-based company was a major shareholder.

Despite those factors, the transaction went through without an assessment by the U.S. government committee that is charged with reviewing acquisitions of sensitive technology by foreign interests.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: My brother works in the biotech field in the Bay Area and has been involved in a number of start-ups over the years. He tells me that Chinese venture capital is all over the place, and they are investing heavy.

The Chinese Want The American Military's Technological Edge

A J-31 stealth fighter has its test flight ahead of the 10th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai, south China's Guangdong Province, Nov. 10, 2014. (Xinhua/Liu Dawei)

CNBC: Espionage risk to US heightened as China's military presses its domestic tech firms

China is taking a page from the Pentagon's playbook under the Obama administration: it's partnering with tech companies to develop more cutting-edge weapons.

But China's innovation-focused strategy could elevate the espionage risk to the U.S.

Ironically, this new threat emerges as the Trump administration is expected to slow its outreach to the tech firms.

Over the weekend, Chinese President Xi Jinping made an address to the country's national legislature where he urged the People's Liberation Army "to speed up" the application of advanced technologies, according to the Chinese military's official web portal. Jinping sees "integrated military and civilian development" as one of the drivers of science-tech innovation and key to upgrading China's military capabilities.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: I suspect that the Chinese have been doing this form of spying/espionage for a very long time, and they do need to be pressured by their central government to re-double their efforts.

Inside The KGB Playbook To Recruit Americans

Michael Weiss, Daily Beast: RAW RECRUITING - Inside the KGB Playbook to Recruit Americans

An old Soviet field manual for spies tells us a lot about the mindset of today’s agents, and not only the Russians. Could an American president be the ultimate “dangle”?

“In studying Americans, our Residency in Italy identified a number of places visited by Americans working in target installations of interest to our Intelligence Service. It was possible to determine that Americans in Rome systematically frequent the same bars, restaurants, and places of recreation. Americans feel almost at home in these places: they drink a great deal, are very free in their conduct and frequently sing. American women, especially the wives of Americans who are away on temporary assignments, drink and have relations with other men.”

There is something almost reassuring in this observation, taken as it is from an old KGB manual on recruiting American agents both inside and outside the United States.

Quite apart from the unintentional comedy of seeing reproduced such a dime-store psychoanalytic stereotype of the boorish and loud bourgeois abroad—whose repressed housewife of course keeps a secret rendezvous with the decanter and the swarthy Mediterranean neighbor—we have in the current age of Cold War 2.0 a helpful reminder that it used to be difficult for Russian spies to envision the lives of others.

Read more ....

WUNU Editor: This is a long read, but well worth it for those who are interested in how Soviet intelligence worked .... and how it may work today. And yes .... the best official cover story for a Soviet or Russian spy stationed in the United States was via through the UN and branch institutions. It was then .... and I am speculating .... it is probably the same today.

Update: While researching for this post I found this interesting handbook .... Intelligence Threat Handbook - Foreign Espionage: The Classical Method of Targeting The U.S.. (FAS)

Chinese Spy Sentenced In U.S. Court For Stealing Top Secret Military Information

A map of China as seen through a magnifying glass on a computer scree, January 2, 2014. The U.S. has sentenced a Chinese hacker to 46 months in prison for stealing military information.

EDGAR SU/REUTERS

Washington Post: 46-month sentence for businessman who helped Chinese military hackers

A businessman who admitted helping Chinese military officers as they hacked into the computer systems of U.S. defense contractors and stole significant information was sentenced Wednesday to three years and 10 months in prison, authorities said.

Su Bin, 51, a Chinese national who also went by Stephen Su and Stephen Subin, had pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiring to gain unauthorized access to a protected computer and to violating the Arms Export Control Act. He had been accused of participating in a years-long plot to steal military technical data — including details related to Boeing’s C-17 military transport plane and other fighter jets produced for the U.S. military — for the Chinese government.

Su’s plea marked a first for someone involved with a Chinese government campaign of economic cyberespionage. Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin said his sentence was “just punishment” for his crimes.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Sentenced for only 4 years !?!?!?! This spy has admitted to conspiring with Chinese-based hackers to target and steal top secret U.S. military projects that included the F-22 and F-35 fighter jet programs. In the past someone like him would be facing 30 years .... and deservedly so.

More News On Chinese Spy Sentenced In U.S. Court For Stealing Top Secret Military Information

Chinese man to serve U.S. prison term for military hacking -- Reuters
Chinese thief of US military secrets given four years' jail -- The Guardian
Chinese hacker found guilty of stealing defense tech sentenced -- CNN
US Judge Sentences Chinese National in Military Hacking Case -- VOA
US sentences Chinese hacker for stealing military information -- BBC
U.S. sentences Chinese military hacker -- UPI
Chinese businessman jailed for almost four years for hacking US military contractors -- DW
US: Chinese national jailed over military hacking -- Al Jazeera
Chinese hacker jailed after stealing 'cutting-edge' military secrets -- Wired

Has The Latest Chinese Spy Scandal Just Grounded America’s Most Important Spy Planes?

P-8 aircraft is a modified Boeing 737 jet equipped with advanced sensors and radar designed to gather intelligence and hunt down submarines (AFP Photo/Mohd Fyrol)

Dan De Luce/Elias Groll.Paul McLeary, Foriegn Policy: China May Be the Big Winner in the Pentagon’s Newest Spying Scandal

The secrets a U.S. Navy officer is suspected of slipping to China could ground America’s most important spy planes just when Washington needs them most.

The U.S. naval officer at the center of a burgeoning spy scandal may not have simply betrayed his country: He may have also helped China compromise Washington’s most-sophisticated tool for tracking Beijing’s submarines, ships, and planes.

The surveillance aircraft potentially exposed in the espionage case are America’s high-tech “eyes in the sky” in the western Pacific, the EP-3E Aries II and P-8A Poseidon, which are equipped with sensors and radar that allow them to scoop up the electronic communications of Chinese forces and monitor their movements.

The Aries, which has undergone significant upgrades in recent years, delivers “near real-time” signals intelligence and full motion video, according to the Navy. The aircraft’s sensors and dish antennas — their range is classified — can pick up distant electronic communications, allowing the U.S. military to pick up on any possible threats and eavesdrop on foreign militaries.

Read more ....

Previous Post: U.S. Navy Officer Lt. Cmdr. Edward Lin Accused of Passing Secrets To China (Updated)

WNU Editor: Let's see now .... Lt. Cmdr. Edward Lin was in his post for two years .... had access to everything .... and was passing intel overseas. Hmmm .... yup .... common sense tells me that America's most important spy planes have been compromised.

U.S. Navy Officer Lt. Cmdr. Edward Lin Accused of Passing Secrets To China (Updated)

Edward Lin at a 2008 naturalization ceremony in Hawaii. REUTERS/U.S. NAVY/SARAH MURPHY

Reuters: U.S. Navy officer charged with spying, possibly for China, Taiwan

A U.S. Navy officer with access to sensitive U.S. intelligence faces espionage charges over accusations he passed state secrets, possibly to China and Taiwan, a U.S. official told Reuters on Sunday.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified the suspect as Lieutenant Commander Edward Lin, who was born in Taiwan and later became a naturalized U.S. citizen, according a Navy profile article written about him in 2008.

A redacted Navy charge sheet said the suspect was assigned to the headquarters for the Navy's Patrol and Reconnaissance Group, which oversees intelligence collection activities.

Read more ....

More News On U.S. Navy Officer Lt. Cmdr. Edward Lin Accused of Passing Secrets To China

U.S. Naval Flight Officer Lt. Cmdr. Edward Lin Accused of Giving U.S. Secrets to China -- USNI News
Navy officer, Taiwan native, accused of spying -- Navy Times
Navy officer accused of passing secrets to China faces espionage and prostitution charges -- Washington Post
US Navy officer charged with espionage -- FOX News
Taiwan Born Naval Officer Charged With Espionage -- ABC News
U.S. Navy Officer Lt. Cmdr. Edward Lin Accused of Espionage: Reports -- NBC
Navy officer charged with espionage, falsifying documents and prostitution -- Daily Mail
Taiwan-born US Navy officer to stand trial for ‘espionage & prostitution’ -- RT
How U.S. Navy officer accused of spying may have helped enemies -- CBS

U.S. Navy Officer Charged With Espionage

Virginia-Pilot: Navy officer charged with espionage in military court at Norfolk Naval Station

A Navy officer assigned to a patrol and reconnaissance group has been charged in military court with two counts of espionage, punishable by the death penalty under certain conditions.

The lieutenant commander is being held at the brig in Chesapeake and appeared at the military equivalent of a preliminary hearing at Norfolk Naval Station on Friday, according to the Navy. The officer’s identity has not been released, and charge sheets detailing his alleged crimes were heavily redacted.

The charge sheets say the officer communicated secret information “relating to the national defense to representatives of a foreign government.” The documents do not specify what information was provided, when it was provided or which nation it was provided to.

Read more ....

Update #1: Navy Charges Maritime Recon Officer with Espionage in Rare ‘National Security Case’ -- USNI News
Update #2: Navy Officer Charged with Espionage by Military Court at Norfolk (Military.com)

WNU Editor: This is a very rare case, and apparently he is been held already for 8 months, but news on his detention is being released only now .... Navy Officer Accused of Spying for Foreign Power Held Secretly for 8 Months (Newsweek).

U.S. Counter-Intelligence Chief Sceptical That China Has Followed Through On Recent Promises To Curb Spying On The U.S.

Chinese and U.S. flags fly along Pennsylvania Avenue outside the White House in Washington January 18, 2011. Reuters/Kevin Lamarque

Reuters: U.S. counterintelligence chief sceptical China has curbed spying on U.S.

U.S. counterintelligence chief Bill Evanina said on Wednesday he was sceptical China had followed through on recent promises to curb spying on the United States.

Evanina told a briefing that he had seen "no indication" from the U.S. private sector "that anything has changed" in the extent of Chinese espionage on the United States.

He said 90 percent of private sector and government data systems intrusions are enabled by "spear-phishing," adding that spear-phishing played a role in the massive hack of security clearance data from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

He said, however, he was unaware of any evidence that any parties had so far tried to use personal data hacked from OPM for nefarious purposes. U.S. investigators have privately attributed the OPM hack to Chinese government operatives.

WNU Editor: I am willing to wager a bet that China has probably increased its spying on the U.S. .... and on all sectors of American society.

U.S. Intelligence Raising Concerns That Russian Subs And Spy Ships Are Operating Near Undersea Cables

A map of undersea cables. (TeleGeography)

New York Times: Russian Ships Near Data Cables Are Too Close for U.S. Comfort

WASHINGTON — Russian submarines and spy ships are aggressively operating near the vital undersea cables that carry almost all global Internet communications, raising concerns among some American military and intelligence officials that the Russians might be planning to attack those lines in times of tension or conflict.

The issue goes beyond old worries during the Cold War that the Russians would tap into the cables — a task American intelligence agencies also mastered decades ago. The alarm today is deeper: The ultimate Russian hack on the United States could involve severing the fiber-optic cables at some of their hardest-to-access locations to halt the instant communications on which the West’s governments, economies and citizens have grown dependent.

While there is no evidence yet of any cable cutting, the concern is part of a growing wariness among senior American and allied military and intelligence officials over the accelerated activity by Russian armed forces around the globe. At the same time, the internal debate in Washington illustrates how the United States is increasingly viewing every Russian move through a lens of deep distrust, reminiscent of relations during the Cold War.

Update #1: U.S. concerned by Russian operations near undersea cables: NY Times -- Reuters
Update #2: US intelligence fears Russia could crash internet by cutting subsea cables -- The Independent

WNU Editor: This is what the Russians are probably doing .... The Creepy, Long-Standing Practice of Undersea Cable Tapping (Olga Khazan, The Atlantic).