Tiger Trap: America's Secret Spy War With China (44 page)

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none of it was classified:
John Pomfret, "Engineer Indicted As Chinese Agent; Case Didn't Meet Espionage Standard,"
Washington Post,
November 16, 2005, p. A3.

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surprise testimony that tied Chi Mak to Dongfan "Greg" Chung:
Roche,
Snake Fish,
pp. 87–88.

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Chung, an engineer who worked at the Boeing plant in Huntington Beach on the space shuttle:
Indictment, United States v. Dongfan "Greg" Chung, US District Court for the Central District of California, SACR 08-00024-CJC, February 6, 2008, p. 5.

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"I hope these products will be flying sky high soon":
Roche,
Snake Fish,
p. 88.

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"This channel is much safer than the others":
Quoted in Lynch, "Law Enforcement Struggles to Combat Chinese Spying."

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the jury ... found Chi Mak guilty:
H. G. Reza, "Engineer Guilty of Trying to Give Documents to China":
Los Angeles Times,
May 11, 2007, p. B3.

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"I am regretful for not contributing anything":
Indictment, United States v. Dongfan "Greg" Chung, p. 8.

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"We are all moved by your patriotism":
Ibid., p. 9.

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the Chinese sent him elaborate tasking lists, with detailed questions:
Ibid., pp. 12–13.

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the Chinese asked for "aircraft design manuals":
United States v. Dongfan "Greg" Chung, Memorandum of Decision, US District Judge Cormac J. Carney, July 16, 2009, p. 10.

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He looked forward to a trip "of several weeks to take a good look at the motherland with my own eyes":
Ibid., pp. 8–9.

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"It is your honor and China's fortune":
Indictment, United States v. Dongfan "Greg" Chung, p. 15.

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"collect information on ... the development of the space shuttle":
United States v. Dongfan "Greg" Chung, Memorandum of Decision, p. 11.

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a "small setting, which is very safe":
Ibid.

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as a cover story for his trip:
Ibid.

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they were astonished to find three hundred thousand pages of Boeing documents:
Dan Whitcomb, "Ex-Boeing Engineer Guilty in Space Shuttle Spy Case," Reuters, July 16, 2009.

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"He was a spy for the PRC":
United States v. Dongfan "Greg" Chung, Memorandum of Decision, p. 5.

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"purely a fabrication":
"China Dismisses US Spy Charges as Fabrication," Agence France-Presse, July 20, 2009.

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he was sentenced to fifteen years and eight months in prison:
Department of Justice, "Former Boeing Engineer Sentenced to Nearly 16 Years in Prison for Stealing Aerospace Secrets for China," press release, February 8, 2010.

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"stop sending your spies here":
Don Whitcomb, "Ex-Boeing Engineer Gets 15 Years in Spy Case," Reuters, February 8, 2010.

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The three people arrested in February 2008:
Jerry Markon, "Defense Official Is Charged in Chinese Espionage Case,"
Washington Post,
February 12, 2008, p. A1.

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Bergersen, fifty-one, longed after he retired to move into the world of "beltway bandits":
Neil A. Lewis, "Spy Cases Raise Concern on China's Intentions,"
New York Times,
July 10, 2008, p. A1.

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"where I can pay you three, four-hundred thousand a year, you come out":
United States v. Tai Shen Kuo, US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, 08-CR-179, Statement of Facts, May 18, 2008, pp. 2–3.

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"his associate introduced him to Lin Hong":
Plato Cacheris and John F. Hundley interview, October 2, 2009.

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"It didn't take him long to realize that Lin was in the Chinese government":
Hundley interview, October 2, 2009.

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Yu Xin Kang moved to New Orleans in 2007 to work as a secretary for Kuo:
United States v. Tai Shen Kuo, Statement of Facts, p. 3.

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Kuo handed Bergersen $3,000 in cash to play poker:
Ibid., p. 9.

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"I don't want CIA, I got CIA's paper":
United States v. Tai Shen Kuo, Gregg William Bergersen and Yu Xin Kang, Affidavit in Support of Criminal Complaint, February 6, 2008, p. 18.

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"I don't wanna go to jail":
Ibid., p. 21.

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his wife went through his wallet:
Ibid., pp. 24–25.

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He was sentenced to almost sixteen years, later reduced to five for cooperating with prosecutors:
Department of Justice, "New Orleans Man Sentenced to More Than 15 Years in Prison for Espionage Involving China," press release, August 8, 2008; "La. Man Who Spied for China Gets Sentence Slashed," Associated Press, June 25, 2010.

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whom he gave the code name Fang:
United States v. James Wilbur Fondren Jr., 09-CR-263, Affidavit in Support of Criminal Complaint, May 11, 2009, p. 5.

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Fondren replied, "I can't talk about uh—that stuff over the phone":
Ibid., p. 11.

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"Let people find out I did that, it will cost me my job":
Ibid.

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"didn't take notes":
United States v. James Wilbur Fondren Jr., Superseding Indictment, p. 19.

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The chief witness against him ... was Tai Shen Kuo:
Matthew Barakat, "Retired AF Officer Goes On Trial in Spy Case," Associated Press, September 21, 2009.

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Fondren was sentenced to three years in federal prison:
"Former AF Officer Gets 3 Years for China Spying," Associated Press, January 22, 2010.

21. THE CYBERSPIES

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Canadian researchers at the University of Toronto called "Chinese cyber-espionage" a "major global concern":
Information Warfare Monitor,
Tracking GhostNet: Investigating a Cyber Espionage Network
(Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto, 2009),
http://www.infowar-monitor.net/ghostnet
.

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"if a computer has a webcam":
Nart Villeneuve interview, October 27, 2009.

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the code name
TITAN RAIN
:
Bradley Graham, "Hackers Attack Via Chinese Web Sites,"
Washington Post,
August 25, 2005; Nathan Thornburgh, "Inside the Chinese Hack Attack,"
Time,
August 25, 2005.

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Shawn Carpenter ... studied a series of break-ins at Sandia:
Nathan Thornburgh, "The Invasion of the Chinese Cyberspies,"
Time,
August 29, 2005.

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won a whopping $4.7 million jury award:
Scott Sandlin, "Sandia Hacker Gets $4 Million; Analyst Fired for FBI Contact," Albuquerque Journal, February 14, 2007, p. A1. Sandia appealed, and in 2007 Carpenter and the laboratory reached a reportedly substantial settlement, although neither side would comment on the amount. Scott Sandlin, "Analyst, Sandia Settle Suit,"
Albuquerque Journal
, October 14, 2007.

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defense networks were taking a million suspicious "hits" a day:
Jim Garamone, "General Lays Out Challenges of Defending Cyberspace," Department of Defense, American Forces Press Service, March 14, 2008.

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cyberspies from China, Russia, and elsewhere had penetrated the power grid:
Siobhan Gorman, "Electricity Grid in U.S. Penetrated by Spies,"
Wall Street Journal,
April 8, 2009.

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"Taking down the grid for months comes as close to a nuclear attack":
Woolsey quoted in Joshua Brockman, "Cybersecurity on Display in D.C.," NPR, October 7, 2009,
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113575765&ft=1&f=1019
.

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the CIA's chief cybersecurity official:
Shane Harris, "China's Cyber-Militia,"
National Journal,
May 31, 2008, pp. 15–24. Donahue did not identify the country where he said hackers had caused a power outage, but he was apparently referring to Brazil, whose officials disputed that a hacker attack had caused blackouts there in 2005 and 2007.

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the Tennessee Valley Authority ... was criticized by the Government Accountability Office for lax security:
Ibid.

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a startling video released by the Department of Homeland Security:
See Clay Wilson,
Botnets, Cybercrime, and Cyberterrorism: Vulnerabilities and Policy Issues for Congress,
CRS Report for Congress, November 15, 2007,
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/terror/RL32114.pdf
; Ted Bridis and Eileen Sullivan, "US Video Shows Mock Hacker Attack," Associated Press, September 26, 2007.

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"cyber intruders have probed our electrical grid ... plunged entire cities into darkness":
White House, Office of the Press Secretary, "Remarks by the President on Securing Our Nation's Cyber Infrastructure," May 29, 2009,
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-securing-our-nations-cyber-infrastructure
.

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CBS News reported ... an attack in Brazil:
The cyberattacks on Brazil were reported on
60 Minutes,
November 8, 2009, CBS transcript, p. 3.

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but the CBS report was disputed by Brazilian officials, who blamed the blackouts on sooty insulators:
Marcelo Soares, "Brazilian Blackout Traced to Sooty Insulators, Not Hackers,"
Wired
, November 9, 2009,
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/11/ brazil_blackout/
; Seymour M. Hersh, "The Online Threat,"
The New Yorker,
November 1, 2010, p. 48.

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"The Chinese government has always opposed any Internet-wrecking crime, including hacking":
Timothy L. Thomas, "China's Electronic Long-Range Reconnaissance,"
Military Review
(November–December 2008), p. 52. Jiang Yu's statement was issued in Beijing on September 4, 2007, and carried by Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency. For the full text, see "China Denies U.S. Charge It Hacked Pentagon Network," Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the United States,
http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/xw/t358639.htm
.

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a sort of "Hacker U," with courses on "Computer Virus Program Design and Application":
Thomas, "China's Electronic Long-Range Reconnaissance," pp. 50–51.

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"we do not know whether we are dealing with a spy, a company insider, or an organized criminal group":
Robert S. Mueller III, speech to the Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco, October 7, 2009,
http://www2.fbi.gov/pressrel/speeches/mueller100709.htm.

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a program code-named
AVOCADO
:
Keith Epstein and Ben Elgin, "The Taking of NASA's Secrets,"
Business Week,
December 1, 2008.

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a war game called Digital Pearl Harbor:
Wilson,
Botnets, Cybercrime, and Cyberterrorism
.

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"China is actively developing an operational capacity in cyberspace":
Information Warfare Monitor,
Tracking GhostNet,
p. 7.

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"The PLA has established information warfare units to develop viruses":
Department of Defense,
Annual Report to Congress:
Military Power of the People's Republic of China
2008,
p. 28,
http://www.defense.gov/pubs/pdfs/China_Military_Report_08.pdf
.

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Two Republican members of Congress claimed ... their offices on Capitol Hill had been penetrated by hackers they believed were in China:
Richard B. Schmitt, "Chinese Suspected in Capitol Hacking Cases,"
Los Angeles Times,
June 12, 2008, p. A10.

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robbed, beaten, tied up, and blindfolded:
Peter Yuan Li interview, October 27, 2009; Paul Wiseman, "In China, a Battle Over Web Censorship,"
USA Today,
April 23, 2008.

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surprise "that in the US they could do such things":
Li interview, October 27, 2009.

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"They block e-mails, but we can still send some, either through e-mail or Skype":
Ibid.

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only about 2 percent of the integrated circuits purchased every year by the military are manufactured in the United States:
John Markoff, "Old Trick Threatens the Newest Weapons,"
New York Times,
October 27, 2009. Counterfeit chips from China have in fact been sold to the US military. In 2009 three members of a California family were charged with selling fake computer chips imported from China to the US Navy and other government agencies. In 2010, the owner and manager of a Florida company were indicted on charges they sold nearly 60,000 counterfeit chips from China to the Navy for use on warships, missile systems, and fighter jets. Prosecutors said the fake chips could cause weapons systems to fail, putting lives at risk. Del Quentin Wilber, "3 Charged with Selling Counterfeit Computer Chips to Navy, Others,"
The Washington Post,
October 10, 2009; Spencer S. Hsu, "Case targets microchips sold to Navy,"
The Washington Post,
October 15, 2010, p. A19.

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why the Syrian air defenses did not respond:
Ibid.

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"hackers gained access to emails and a range of campaign files":
White House, Office of the Press Secretary, "Remarks by the President on Securing Our Nation's Cyber Infrastructure."