Former CIA spy revealed to have worked for China: A decades-long intelligence war

12PUNTO FOREIGN NEWS

It was determined that former CIA employee Alexander Yuk Ching Ma had been spying on behalf of China and leaking information and documents obtained from the CIA to intelligence officers working for the Shanghai State Security Bureau (SSSB) as a result of an operation conducted in 2020. Ma was found guilty in a court in Hawaii, where he has lived since 2003, in a trial that concluded on September 11. Ma, who agreed to cooperate with the CIA, benefited from a sentence reduction.

According to court documents, Ma worked for the CIA from 1982 to 1989. The documents state that a person identified as co-conspirator #1 (CC #1) also worked for the CIA from 1967 to 1983. The two spies, who were CIA officers, held top-secret security clearances that gave them access to sensitive and classified CIA information, and both had signed non-disclosure agreements.

THEY SOLD INFORMATION FOR 50 THOUSAND DOLLARS

According to the plea agreement Ma signed to receive a lighter sentence, more than a decade after he resigned from the CIA, Ma was contacted by SSSB intelligence officers in March 2001. The Chinese intelligence officers asked Ma to arrange a meeting between CC #1 and the SSSB. Ma convinced CC #1, and both Ma and CC #1 met with SSSB intelligence officers in a hotel room in Hong Kong for three days.

During the meetings, CC #1 leaked a large amount of classified US national defense information to the SSSB in exchange for 50,000 dollars in cash. Ma and CC #1 also agreed at the same meeting to continue assisting the SSSB.

FBI HIRED HIM TO DECIPHER THE SPY NETWORK

In March 2003, while living in Hawaii, Ma applied for a job as a contract linguist at the FBI's Honolulu Field Office. Aware of Ma's ties to Chinese intelligence, the FBI hired Ma as part of a ruse to monitor and investigate his activities and contacts with the SSSB. Ma worked part-time for the FBI at an off-site location from August 2004 to October 2012.

As detailed in the plea agreement, in February 2006, Ma was tasked by the SSSB with identifying four people from photographs who might be of interest to the SSSB from CC #1. Ma convinced CC #1 to identify at least two of the people whose identities were classified US national defense information.

Ma admitted that he transmitted information knowing it would be used to harm the US and that he knowingly and willingly conspired with CC #1 and SSSB intelligence officers.

HE AGREED TO WORK FOR THE US FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE

Under the terms of the plea agreement, Ma is required to cooperate with the US for the rest of his life, including participating in debriefings conducted by US government agencies. At the sentencing hearing, the government attorney told the court that Ma had cooperated and participated in multiple interview sessions with government agents.

Ma was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but the sentence was converted to 5 years of supervised release due to the former spy's cooperation.

News Source: 12punto