espionage

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Ex-US Ambassador Pleads Guilty to Spying for Cuba

Victor Manuel Rocha, former diplomat to Bolivia, is said to have helped communist nation for decades

(Newser) - For more than four decades, a diplomat working in the US State Department secretly funneled information to Cuba's communist government. That's according to prosecutors, and now to Victor Manuel Rocha himself, a former ambassador to Bolivia who on Thursday switched his initial plea of not guilty to guilty...

Lawyers for US Push Back on Assange's Last-Ditch Bid
Assange Won't Learn
His Fate for Weeks
UPDATED

Assange Won't Learn His Fate for Weeks

Judges reserve decision on last-ditch push to avoid extradition

(Newser) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange won't find out until next month at the earliest whether he can challenge extradition to the US on spying charges, or if his long legal battle in Britain has run out of road. Two High Court judges said Wednesday they would take time to consider...

After 8 Months, Cops Release This Suspicious Bird

Pigeon caught in May near port in Mumbai, India, had been suspected of spying for China

(Newser) - Indian police cleared a suspected Chinese spy pigeon after eight months' detention and released it into the wild Tuesday, reports the news agency Press Trust of India. The pigeon's ordeal began in May when it was captured near a port in Mumbai with two rings tied to its legs,...

US Sailor Sold Secrets to China, Gets 2 Years

Thomas Zhao will do 27 months for taking bribes, stealing intel from his California base

(Newser) - A US Navy sailor has been sentenced to just over two years in federal prison for transmitting sensitive US military information to a Chinese intelligence officer. Wenheng Zhao, who is also known as Thomas Zhao, of Monterey Park, was sentenced Monday to 27 months by a federal judge in Los...

CIA Has a Problem: Few Spies in China
CIA Has
a China
Problem:
Few Spies
longform

CIA Has a China Problem: Few Spies

'Wall Street Journal' reports US has little covert knowledge of what's happening in Beijing

(Newser) - A little more than a decade ago, right around the time current Chinese leader Xi Jinping was rising to power, China obliterated America's spying network within the country. About two dozen Chinese agents—many of them recruited when China was weaker and beset by corruption—were rounded up and...

Gershkovich's Detention Extended After 8 Months Behind Bars

'Wall Street Journal' reporter to remain in Russian custody until at least Jan. 30

(Newser) - A court in Moscow on Tuesday extended the detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, arrested on espionage charges, until Jan. 30, Russian news agencies reported. The hearing took place behind closed doors because authorities say details of the criminal case against the American journalist are classified, the AP...

Ex-NSA Worker Admits Guilt in Russia Spy Case

Defendant sent a thank-you note to fake contact before trying to turn over files

(Newser) - A former National Security Agency employee from Colorado pleaded guilty Monday to trying to sell classified national security information to Russia. Federal prosecutors agreed to not ask for more than about 22 years in prison for Jareh Sebastian Dalke when he is sentenced in April if he adheres to the...

Spy Chiefs in 5 Nations Sound Warning on China

Five Eyes intelligence chiefs say Chinese spies are operating at an 'epic scale'

(Newser) - Spy movies have taught us to suspect figures lurking around military bases and federal buildings, yet the focus of Chinese spying in the US looks quite different, according to the heads of spy agencies in the Five Eyes coalition—US, Canada, Britain, Australia, and New Zealand—who gathered for an...

Russia Charges Another US Citizen With Spying

Gene Spector is already jailed in Russia after pleading guilty to bribery

(Newser) - An American serving a 3.5-year prison sentence for bribery in Russia has now been charged with espionage. Gene Spector, a US citizen who was born and raised in St. Petersburg, allegedly admitted to bribing a former aide to Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich last year. He was charged in...

Mom of Navy Sailor Allegedly Encouraged Him to Spy for China

Prosecutors say she urged son to cooperate when he was approached by CCP

(Newser) - One of the Navy sailors accused of spying for China was encouraged to do so by his own mother, prosecutors say. The mother of Jinchao Wei, 22, allegedly believed that if her son sold secrets to the Chinese Communist Party he would be rewarded with a position in China's...

Russian Hockey Player Accused of Spying

Poland says player in top league is 14th member of spy ring to be arrested

(Newser) - Polish authorities have detained a Russian hockey player who competes in a top Polish league on suspicion of spying, officials said Friday. "Russian spies are falling one by one!" said Zbigniew Ziobro, the justice minister and chief prosecutor. "A spy who operated under the guise of an...

Report: Spy Balloon Was 'Crammed' With US-Made Tech

Investigators believe there's no way it was just a weather balloon, insiders say

(Newser) - The Wall Street Journal describes the investigation into the Chinese spy balloon shot down in February as "closely held"—but it has found some officials willing to discuss preliminary findings. The officials say analysis by defense and intelligence agencies has found that the balloon was "crammed with...

Report: Russia Planned to Assassinate Defector in Florida

Putin 'wants all these guys dead'

(Newser) - Some 80 years after Ramon Mercader killed Leon Trotsky in Mexico City on orders from Josef Stalin, Vladimir Putin's regime plotted to send "a modern-day Mercader" to kill a Russian defector living in Florida, according to an upcoming book from Calder Walton, a Harvard scholar of national security...

Report: China Plans to Build Spy Base 100 Miles From US

Sources say Beijing will pay Cuban government billions of dollars

(Newser) - Talk of a cold war between the US and China will likely be heightened by reports that China is planning to build a spy base in Cuba. The Wall Street Journal , citing "US officials familiar with highly classified intelligence," reports that Beijing and Havana have struck a deal...

Robert Hanssen, Spy for Russia, Dies in Prison

FBI agent sold US secrets for years for $1.4M

(Newser) - Robert Hanssen, the notorious FBI agent who sold national security secrets to Russia for years—making dead drops in a Virginia park—in one of the most harmful espionage cases in US history, died Monday in a Colorado prison. He was found unresponsive in his cell, the Federal Bureau of...

Alleged Russian Spy Whale Turns Up in a New Country

Hvaldimir, first spotted off of Norway 4 years ago, is now in Swedish waters

(Newser) - In 2019, when a white beluga whale showed up off of Norway , experts suspected it was a spy whale that had defected from the Russian military. Scientists also feared the creature wouldn't be able to survive very long on its own after a lifetime in captivity—but now, four...

Kim Jong Un Has a New Toy Aimed at US, South Korea

Military spy satellite is aimed to stem 'US imperialists and [South] Korean puppet villains'

(Newser) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un examined a finished military spy satellite, which his country is expected to launch soon, during a visit to his country's aerospace agency, where he described space-based reconnaissance as crucial for countering the US and South Korea. As the AP reports, Kim during Tuesday'...

Gershkovich Sends Message: 'I Am Humbled'
Gershkovich
Sends Message:
'I Am Humbled'
THE RUNDOWN

Gershkovich Sends Message: 'I Am Humbled'

'WSJ' reporter detained in Russia gets support from Griner, Biden, 3 big US newspapers

(Newser) - Last week, the world caught a glimpse of detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in a Moscow courtroom, looking calm as he stood in a glass cage and heard that his appeal to be released while awaiting an investigation into the spying charges against him was turned down. Now,...

Arrest of Reporter Is 'Personally Painful' for Another

Ex-'NYT' public editor Margaret Sullivan puts 'human face' on Evan Gershkovich, held by Russia

(Newser) - The arrest in Russia of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has shaken journalists worldwide—hitting especially close to home for one in particular. Writing for the Guardian , former Washington Post media columnist and New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan describes the "personally painful" reaction she had to...

China: Let's Stay Calm About This Alleged Spy Balloon

It still hasn't confirmed the United States' allegations of the orb floating over Montana

(Newser) - The giant white object spotted drifting over Montana earlier this week is a spy balloon sent by China, at least according to the United States government. China, however, is urging everyone to take a deep breath and not pass judgment "before we have a clear understanding of the facts....

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