Not that I'm completely surprised, but I found this as interesting as it is scary (a portion of the article quoted below):

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23928446/



WASHINGTON - Prosecutors called Chi Mak the "perfect sleeper agent," though he hardly looked the part. For two decades, the bespectacled Chinese-born engineer lived quietly with his wife in a Los Angeles suburb, buying a house and holding a steady job with a U.S. defense contractor, which rewarded him with promotions and a security clearance. Colleagues remembered him as a hard worker who often took paperwork home at night.

Eventually, Mak's job gave him access to sensitive plans for Navy ships, submarines and weapons. These he secretly copied and sent via courier to China -- fulfilling a mission that U.S. officials say he had been planning since the 1970s.

Mak was sentenced last week to 24 1/2 years in prison by a federal judge who described the lengthy term as a warning to China not to "send agents here to steal America's military secrets." But it may already be too late: According to U.S. intelligence and Justice Department officials, the Mak case represents only a small facet of an intelligence-gathering operation that has long been in place and is growing in size and sophistication.

24 1/2 years is long? The guy planned the operation longer than that! I love western thought. That doesn't send the right message. It just tells China to be more careful, and that in 25 years they can put this guy to use somewhere else.

Here's a scary thought - think of the potential backlash towards all Asian-Americans if this US/China headbutting continues to escalate. It wasn't very long ago that we rounded up anyone remotely Japanese looking and shoved them into camps on US soil.

Doesn't surprise me in the least, and it's probably the tip of the iceberg.

Very scary indeed ;(

Eventually, Mak's job gave him access to sensitive plans for Navy ships, submarines and weapons. These he secretly copied and sent via courier to China -- fulfilling a mission that U.S. officials say he had been planning since the 1970s.
Well, I guess now we have a better idea about how that Chinese sub was able to pop up right in the middle of our battle group last year.

I'm curious how a Chinese-born resident (non-US citizen) can get his clearances. That doesn't happen at Lockheed or the Navy base at which I'm currently doing work. Hell, visitors can't get even walk on base without a US birth certificate or passport - much less get a govt/contractor job there.

I'm curious how a Chinese-born resident (non-US citizen) can get his clearances. That doesn't happen at Lockheed or the Navy base at which I'm currently doing work. Hell, visitors can't get even walk on base without a US birth certificate or passport - much less get a govt/contractor job there.

If an immigrant successfully pursues citizenship, and demonstrates intelligence and abilities and qualities that are desired, I have no doubt there are many who would look for ways to cut red tape, knowing his successes on the job could only help to make them look better as well to their superiors.

Ok, he was a US citizen afterall. Well, as far as I know you can't work on classified projects at Lockheed if even your spouse was Chinese-born... doesn't matter if he/she is a citizen or not.

I thought that was govt policy. Guess I thought wrong. That's troubling.

I am only speculating, Akipt. I don't know that he was a citizen, and did not see anything saying he had been granted such. It was just a thought of how a foreign-born may have gotten into the position he had.

Sucky journalism...

Other recent prosecutions illustrate the scale of the problem. Mak, whose sentence capped an 18-month criminal probe, was the second U.S. citizen in the past two weeks to stand before a federal judge after being found guilty on espionage-related charges.

If I was a suspicious person, I'd say the journalist was trying to bury that bit of information.

Also from that article:
In March, the Reston company WaveLab pleaded guilty to violating export laws when it shipped militarily sensitive power amplifiers to China, according to court papers.

That reminds me of the company contracted to make the US Border Patrol uniforms, who promptly offshored the work to a plant in Mexico. Way to think that one through...

Way to use NAFTA!