The Department of Justice, United States recently revealed that a long time employee of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been charged for spying with his duty for his homeland, China. The accused Kun Shan Chun had been arrested since March this year and he has already pleaded guilty for charges put upon him.
Chu who went around as ‘Joey’ had joined the FBI since 1997 while he came to the US in the 1980s as young boy. The Chinese mole had worked for nearly two decades as an electronics technician with the FBI’s huge New York field office.
“He held Top Secret security clearances since 1998. Part of his job, as one of the legions of technical personnel who support the FBI’s storied special agents, included accessing classified information.” reported Observer. We can assume from this position how much information he would have shared with Beijing.
Chun has admitted to having shared sensitive informations between the years 2011 and 2016 which he passed through a Chinese government representative or more clearly, a spy. “Among the classified information he passed included the identity and travel plans of an FBI agent, an internal organizational chart, plus photos taken by Chun of documents in a restricted area related to surveillance technology.” says the report.
However, when the Bureau got the heed of his disloyalty, they laid a counterintelligence trap to Chun where he went on to promise the undercover FBI agent to introduce him to his Chinese contacts.
The FBI has learnt in the counterintelligence measure that Chun would get a share of earnings made by the agent he introduced to the government for sharing information. “As usual for Beijing, they also paid their mole with prostitutes and hotel stays.” added the report.
Although the FBI now have complete evidence to put on trial for espionage, the FBI has accepted Chun’s plea for acting as unregistered agent of China. This charge is liable for a prison term of more than 10 years. However report explain that the accused might be facing only a fraction of it.
This incident of charging a Chinese mole is seen as step forward from US against the rising Chinese espionage in United States because there were incidents in the past when such suspected Chinese moles just being made to resign and not charged for their crimes.
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