Former special agent jailed for selling classified US ‘defence information’ for $25,000 in 2017
An ex-CIA officer was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Friday for spying for China in a case called part of an “alarming trend” in the US intelligence community.
Kevin Mallory, 62, was convicted under the Espionage Act for selling classified US “defence information” to a Chinese intelligence agent for $25,000 during trips to Shanghai in March and April 2017.
Continue reading...Largest collection of international espionage artefacts ever placed on public display illuminate the work of famous spies and their pivotal actions, as well as help bring to life the tradecraft of the women and men behind some of the most secretive missions in world history
Continue reading...Ren Zhengfei hits back at criminal indictments he calls politically motivated
The US cannot crush Huawei, the company’s founder has insisted, as he hit back against criminal indictments levelled at the firm and allegations that it poses a security threat.
Washington has warned allies off using Huawei products in recent weeks. But Ren Zhengfei, whose daughter Meng Wanzhou – a fellow senior Huawei executive – is among those charged by US prosecutors, told the BBC on Monday that the firm would survive the pressure.
Continue reading...Bulgarian PM says UK team is on ground to investigate suspected poisoning of local arms dealer
A team of British investigators is in Bulgaria looking into whether the 2015 suspected poisoning of a local arms dealer has links to the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter last year in Salisbury.
“There is a British team here on the ground,” Bulgaria’s prime minister, Boyko Borisov, told the Guardian in an interview in Sofia. “They are jointly conducting an investigation with Bulgarian law enforcement authorities.”
Continue reading...Monica Witt, who defected in 2013, worked as a cryptologist and a counter-intelligence investigator for more than 10 years
A former US air force intelligence officer who defected to Iran in 2013 has been charged with espionage, giving away the identity of a US agent and other secrets.
Monica Witt, aged 39, was a cryptologist and a counter-intelligence investigator for the US air force for more than 10 years before working as an intelligence analyst for the defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton for five months in 2008 and doing other private sector work.
Continue reading...Flabbergasted owner says EU must have been referring to his place when warning diplomats to avoid a Brussels restaurant
Eleven years since opening his restaurant in the shadow of the European commission’s vast Berlaymont headquarters in Brussels, Philippe Weiner can safely boast that the Meet Meat Steak and Wine House is a firm favourite of the better-fed Eurocrat.
Sharp-suited diplomats and officials flock to its minimalist dining room for lunch and dinner. The president of the European council, Donald Tusk, and his team have been known to enjoy the kitchen’s meat offerings, best served à point or saignant.
Continue reading...New home for Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service took 12 years and €1bn to build
No mobile phones. No private laptops. No checking personal emails or social media. And at the end of the day, all access cards must be locked in a safe.
More than €1bn (£870m) and 12 years after construction began, Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND) has officially opened its new Berlin home, the world’s biggest intelligence headquarters.
Continue reading...A museum in New York claims to be the only collection focusing on the KGB’s espionage operations in the world. The newly opened exhibition hall, housed in a former warehouse on 14th Street, is home to 3,500 original period objects, which the designer of the museum, Julius Urbaitis, has gathered after 30 years of research around the world
Continue reading...Paul Whelan, ex-marine accused of spying, may have been unaware of possession
A Russian lawyer for Paul Whelan, the US citizen accused of spying on Russia, has said his client was carrying state secrets when he was arrested in Moscow but may not have realised it.
Whelan, an ex-marine, has been accused of an unspecified “act of espionage”, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Continue reading...It was suggested Moscow could use Paul Whelan to barter for release of Russian jailed in US
Moscow has denied that a former US marine is being held as a bargaining chip for a jailed Russian spy, after Jeremy Hunt warned against using Britons as pawns.
Paul Whelan, 48, who has UK citizenship, was arrested in the Russian capital last week, apparently on espionage charges.
Continue reading...British foreign secretary says Paul Whelan should not be used as a diplomatic pawn
The British foreign secretary has warned Russia not to try to use Paul Whelan, the British–American national arrested on spying charges, as a diplomatic pawn.
Jeremy Hunt said the UK was “extremely worried” about Hunt and had offered consular assistance. It emerged on Friday that Whelan, detained a week ago in Moscow, also holds Irish and Canadian passports, adding more layers of complexity to a potentially fraught diplomatic incident.
Continue reading...