Andrew Yuk Ching Ma worked for the CIA with a high level security clearance from 1982 to 1989
Washington:
A former CIA and then FBI officer was indicted in federal court in Hawaii on Monday for selling US secrets to China, including disclosing the identities of US informants in China.
Andrew Yuk Ching Ma was tricked into admitting his activities last year by an American undercover agent who, posing as a Chinese intelligence officer, told Ma he had been underpaid for at least a decade. of work, according to an indictment.
He continued to meet with the undercover agent, accepting money and offering secrets until this month, when he said he was happy to continue working for Beijing but “would rather discuss the opportunities after the disappearance of the COVID-19 pandemic, “the indictment reads.
The Justice Department said Ma was arrested on August 14, but did not release the indictment until Monday.
Ma, 67, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Hong Kong, worked for the Central Intelligence Agency with a high-level security clearance from 1982 to 1989.
He had a parent, anonymous and not charged in the indictment due to his age, 85, and advanced dementia, who also worked for the agency from 1967 to 1983.
The indictment indicates that at least as early as 2001, the two men were already providing information to agents of the Beijing State Security Ministry.
The indictment indicates that FBI investigators obtained video and audio recordings of their meetings with MSS agents in Hong Kong in March 2001 – although it does not explain how and when they obtained such evidence.
At those meetings, they provided details of CIA communications, field operations and informants, and the video shows them receiving $ 50,000.
After them, Ma applied for a job with the FBI in Hawaii, which gave her access to classified information that, for at least the next decade or so, uploaded and photographed documents to hand over to her Chinese managers.
He and his relative were also asked to identify from photos of possible American agents and informants in China during this time, according to the charges.
The indictment gives no clue as to what Ma may have done after 2010 or when US counterintelligence investigators became suspicious of him before 2019.
The case, however, is the latest of several brought against U.S. government employees who sold secrets in China.
After China reportedly dismantled a network of CIA sources and agents in China around 2010, the agency began digging deep for leaks and possible moles that may have exposed them.
Last November, Jerry Chun Shing Lee, who worked for the CIA from 1994 to 2007, was sentenced to 19 years in prison for divulging US secrets to Chinese intelligence.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
