"...especially a Chinese-American..."
Why is it so hard to believe a Chinese-American can be a traitor to the US? Chinese-Americans consume the absolute bulk of super-funded Chinese Communist Party propaganda and maintain highly emotional, familial, and economic ties to China. Chinese-Americans have been deemed the 'model minority' so long, both our naivete and fear of being called racists restrict the average American from understanding the threat.
8
It seems NYT has a habit of putting Chinese Americans being accused of spying for China on news headlines. Wen Ho Lee and Sherry Chen came to mind, though both were proven innocent in the end. A judge actually apologized to Lee for what he had suffered. Many non Chinese Americans were convicted for spying for China though none has gotten as prominent a display on NYT. Don't you realize this is casting a shadow on all Chinese Americans? Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps during WWII for the same suspicion. Please be conscientious in how you report the story. You can cause damages to real lives. Apologies afterwards are meaningless.
2
Wormwood on NetFlix...is there an echo in here?
Whomever strenuously objected to his not being a mole should be investigated as well.
3
Risky business. All those lives lost, if he did it, God help him. I wonder what he gained, and again, what will the CHinese do to "hush" him?
Predictably the politically correct and globalization obsessed pundits are not mentioning the most likely factor that made the CIA and FBI reluctant to arrest this traitor .... that they were terrified of being accused of being racists, because this individual was not a white, Anglo, Christian male.
4
The loss of the intelligence assets in China is significant to say the least. The human toll was also significant, in that the American spies were no doubt tortured and executed. The damage to American security was also significant. As a native English speaker who also speaks Chinese, with meaningful work experience in Asia, I can confirm that a fair number Chinese from the mainland have mixed loyalties and/or are susceptible to significant blackmail by the Chinese government usually in the form of threats to family members who are still in China.
Over the years I have seen any number of questionable cases, e.g., a China-born AT&T tech executive who was paid a considerable amount to go to China and give months of debriefings where he communicated all that he knew (including printed materials) to the Chinese government and to AT&T's Chinese competitors. This executive did not appear to have any ethical misgivings. He did this without pressure from the Chinese government. He was motivated by money and by a sense of patriotism toward China.
8
I learned from my parents as well as my teachers in elementary school that we should never send members of a class of people to harm there own kind, in the military or for spying because it constitutes a possible and serious moral conflict.
This rule makes basic common sense, especially when this gentlemen was naturalized US citizen as an adult. I could easily imagine the profound sense of ambiguity and loyalty formed in early childhood which are hard to brush off. He was probably also tempted by huge rewards. He may have also have been disappointed by both sides, and thus chose to benefit his family first and foremost by accepting the highest possible financial gain.
I wouldn't trust China with a 10 foot pole. It has very big ambitious goals to defeat us at least economically. It is succeeding. this is one of many reasons Donald Trump got elected. Stealing everything they can to beat us in our own game.
16
The thing is JG at a certain point you need someone who looks like a local (chinese) to infiltrate a closed soceity. You will not send a blonde blue eyed American or a Dark skinned African American who wil stand out like a sore thumb. Yes it is a risk to use a person born in China but how else would you go deep and get quality intel?
3
JG, understand moral conflict and loyalties that may linger from childhood. However, Chinese are in this country, and I'm sure many are here not to become and live as an American, but to spy and steal trade secrets. I don't think an American can walk into China and spy or understand what they are doing against the US. Sadly, while economies are now globalized, loyalties, political beliefs, and cultural beliefs are not. It is always a risk to spy in the first place, but know that we are a target. Have always been. And our immigration and naturalization policies make us a much easier target than most countries on the globe.
3
Jerry Chun Shing Lee was born in Hong Kong, which is very different from someone who grew up in the People's Republic. Aside from sharing various cultural traditions and language, he essentially grew up in a different country (or at the very least, a different government) so I would be surprised he harbors any sort of loyalty or affection to the communist party and would agree with your second guess that he did this for profit/self-gain.
1
...and the decimation of the ranks of the State Department because of Trump Administration policies cannot help the US's situation regarding intelligence gathering abroad. The US needs to strengthen the State Department, CIA & FBI if we're to remain viable, internationally and at home.
12
Do not know what proposed cuts in billions that the US gives in aid will mean. They have not been enacted yet, and this happened in 2013 under Obama's budget. Don't think budget has anything to do with it. And if you're suggesting we should just continue to give billions to countries because we have in the past is ludicrous. The US is not the care taker of the world, as I'm constantly reminded when I read the NYTimes and reader comments.
1
It is very hard for an ordinary citizen (like myself) make any type of judgement when it comes to the CIA. So many things are redacted when information is released to the general public, and if an investigation or inquiry is current, no one may officially speak about it.
6
The state of US intelligence is in tatters. Has been for quite some time now. The CIA became overly dependent on technology and scaled back good ole' cloak & dagger spying. The results were predictable: we can see Putin taking his dog for a walk from a satellite but we have no idea what his dog ate for dinner. Information is power and as any student of Sun Tzu will tell you: a battle is won before it is ever fought - usually by the side that has more information on the other. This has been a collapse in the making for many years and unfortunately it will take many years, if ever, to get the kind of spying infrastructure the US needs. The CIA has an awful lot of work to do.
9
The CIA is dependent on presidents and what they and Congress expect and demand of it. The public will never know anything unless the Administration decides to reveal that information. Or somebody like Edward Snowden comes along.....
1
At this point, we don't know. I only hope NYT will continue to give this story prominence as actual facts come out. There has been very little coverage of the Temple University physics prof who was arrested, smeared, then cleared, after the arresting and smearing.
Gorilla Bob
3
It doesn't make a lot of sense. Is he the spy or not? And the killings & arrests of the counterspies stopped in 2012. A lot more information is needed.
6
This is the Government and agency that so many people believe is capable of arcane and complex conspiracies. No matter how many stories like this that come to light those that believe in intricate government conspiracies continue unabated.
3