On Friday, in a case that the United States government and his employer have denounced as a sham, a Russian court found Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, the first U.S. journalist to face such a charge since Nicholas Daniloff in 1986, guilty of espionage and sentenced him to 16 years in a high-security penal colony.
Gershkovich was arrested in March 2023 in Yekaterinburg and later accused of being a CIA spy; Russian prosecutors alleged that “under instructions from the CIA” and “using painstaking conspiratorial methods,” Gershkovich “was collecting secret information” regarding a Russian defense contractor. The U.S. State Department called for his immediate release; no public evidence has been presented by Russia that supported its case. He was held in Moscow’s infamous Stalin-era Lefortovo Prison in a small cell and only <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/19/media/evan-gershkovich-espionage-trial-verdict-intl/index.html#:~:text=Evan%20Gershkovich%2C%20the%20first%20American,have%20denounced%20as%20a%20sham" target="_blank" rel="noopener">allowed</a> one hour of walking every day.
“This disgraceful, sham conviction comes after Evan has spent 478 days in prison, wrongfully detained, away from his family and friends, prevented from reporting, all for doing his job as a journalist,” Journal publisher Almar Latour and Editor-in-Chief Emma Tucker <a href="//B6C39C40-81A7-4C4B-91B7-13445197898B/v" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stated</a>,  “We will continue to do everything possible to press for Evan’s release and to support his family. Journalism is not a crime, and we will not rest until he’s released. This must end now.”
Russia rebuffed a request from Gershkovich’s legal team that he be moved from the prison to house arrest or be granted bail.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has hinted that he would swap Gershkovich for Russians held in other countries, referencing Vadim Krasikov, an FSB operative. But on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to the idea of an exchange by asserting, “I’m leaving that question without an answer. There is a charge of espionage, so this is a very, very sensitive area.”
“Penal colonies are usually located in remote areas far from densely populated regions,” the Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/russia/evan-gershkovich-penal-colony-transfer-69b5d482" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted.</a> “Due to their location and inaccessibility, colonies are less frequently inspected by human-rights groups. When they have visited, observers report poor conditions, including mold in the cells and problems with food and medical care, as well as ill treatment of inmates by prison staff.”

RUSSIA-US-JOURNALIST

Russia Sentences WSJ Reporter Evan Gershkovich To 16 Years In Penal Colony

Espionage

Evan Gershkovich

Media

Russia

Vladimir Putin

Wall Street Journal

World

Sen. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/ted-cruz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ted Cruz</a> (R-TX) said this week that the Chinese are buying up farmland near U.S. Military bases so that they can have launch areas for drones to spy on the bases.
Cruz made the remarks during the most recent episode of his &#8220;Verdict&#8221; podcast with co-host Ben Ferguson.
“There were multiple Chinese spy balloons, and the Biden administration didn&#8217;t bother to tell anyone about them,&#8221; Cruz said. &#8220;Until finally some ranchers in Montana spotted this one and they got outed on the internet. Were it not for that, we wouldn&#8217;t even know about this one. They kept it secret that the Chinese had been sending spy balloons over U.S. airspace, over U.S. military bases. They&#8217;re engaged in active espionage against us.”
&#8220;The Chinese are buying up land and they&#8217;re claiming they&#8217;re buying it up for farming or ranching, but it allows them to set up reconnaissance sites that allows them to install tracking technology, to use radar, to use infrared scanning, and to view the bases, and from there, to attempt to fly drones over the bases and engage in surveillance,&#8221; he later added. &#8220;And I gotta say, it is insane that we are allowing the Chinese to do this, this should be illegal, we should not allow the Chinese Communists to buy land anywhere near our bases.&#8221;
He said that Democrats have resisted countering China&#8217;s buying up of land around U.S. Military bases because &#8220;today&#8217;s Democrat Party is structurally pro-China.&#8221;
Cruz said that the party&#8217;s major stakeholders — big business, big tech, big Hollywood, big universities — are all in bed with China.
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WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
China Buying Farmland NEXT to U.S. Military Bases to Spy on us, plus Alvin Bragg RELEASED the anti-Israel Protestors who Took Over Columbia.
Don&#8217;t miss this special video episode of Verdict 👇 <a href="https://t.co/kGQwSAt3Za">pic.twitter.com/kGQwSAt3Za</a>
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1805349214173417902?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 24, 2024</a></blockquote>

Senator Ted Cruz

Ted Cruz: China Is Buying Farmland Near U.S. Bases To Set Up Drones For Surveillance

Communist China

Global Politics

Ted Cruz

U.S.

The Department of Justice indicted two men who allegedly procured microelectronics for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that could be used in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attacks.
Iranian national Hossein Hatefi Ardakani and co-defendant Gary Lam (identified by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as Lin Jinghe), were charged with the crime. Lam reportedly worked for a Chinese company. The microelectronics were designated to be used by the IRGC Aerospace Force Self Sufficiency Jihad Organization’s (ASF SSJO) one-way attack UAV program, the DOJ <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/iranian-national-charged-unlawfully-procuring-microelectronics-used-unmanned-aerial-vehicles" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stated.</a> The microelectronics included high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs), monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) power amplifiers, and analog-to-digital converters.
“Today’s coordinated action with the Treasury Department demonstrates the Justice Department’s commitment to keeping military-grade equipment out of the hands of the Iranian regime,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “We will aggressively investigate, disrupt, and hold accountable criminal networks that supply sensitive technology to hostile and repressive governments in contravention of U.S. sanctions.”
The deadly and repressive IRGC serves as the military right arm of the despotic Iranian theocratic government; it was been labeled a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) by the U.S. State Department in 2019. The IRGC was established by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in May 1979 after the Islamic Revolution, and has brutally targeted Iran’s own citizens when they protest against the government. When the U.S. designated IRGC a terrorist group in 2019, it was the first time the U.S. had designated the military branch of a foreign country in this manner.
The Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act stated, “The IRGC, not just the IRGC-QF [the Qods Force, the Guard’s extraterritorial branch], is responsible for implementing Iran’s international program of destabilizing activities, support for acts of international terrorism, and ballistic missile program.”
“U.S. technology has zero place in Iranian UAVs,” Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement Matthew S. Axelrod of the Department of Commerce added. “As these allegations demonstrate, those who procure dual-use microelectronics for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps will be held accountable.”
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“Ardakani and his co-conspirators crafted a sophisticated web of front companies to obscure the illicit acquisition of U.S. and foreign technology to procure components for deadly UAVs,” Special Agent in Charge Michael J. Krol of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New England explained. “These very components have been found in use by Iran’s allies in current conflicts, including in Ukraine. The disruption of these criminal networks by Homeland Security Investigations means that hundreds of thousands of critical UAV components will never again be used for malign purposes.”
Ardakani and Lam are charged with conspiracy to export U.S. goods to Iran and to defraud the United States, a possible five-year sentence; unlawfully exporting and attempting to export goods to Iran, a possible 20-year sentence, and conspiracy to engage in international money laundering, also a possible 20-year sentence.

170 kilometers of security wall built on the Van-Iran border completed

DOJ Indicts Two Men Who Allegedly Sold Microelectronics To IRGC, Iran’s Terror Organization

Department of Justice

Drones

Iran

U.S. prosecutors charged a former ambassador to Bolivia for secretly working for the Cuban government and supporting its clandestine intelligence-gathering mission against the United States for more than four decades, according to unsealed court documents released on Monday.
Victor Manuel Rocha, who served in various roles within the State Department, was arrested on Friday in Miami, Florida, on a <a href="https://www.justice.gov/media/1327021/dl?inline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">criminal complaint</a>. According to the Justice Department, federal prosecutors charged Rocha with committing multiple federal crimes, including acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government and using a passport obtained by false statement.
&#8220;This action exposes one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the United States government by a foreign agent,&#8221; Attorney General Merrick B. Garland <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-us-ambassador-and-national-security-council-official-charged-secretly-acting-agent" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a news release.
Rocha, 73, a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Colombia, allegedly spent 40 years secretly working as an agent on behalf of Havana while seeking out and obtaining positions within the U.S. government to gain access to classified information with the ability to affect its foreign policy.
The indictment does not specify details about the information Rocha allegedly shared with conspirators inside Cuba&#8217;s intelligence community.
Between 1981 and 2002, Rocha rose through the ranks of the State Department under both Democratic and Republican administrations. He worked in U.S. Embassies in Argentina, Bolivia, and Mexico City and served a short stint on the White House&#8217;s National Security Council as the director of inter-American affairs focused on Cuba from 1994 to 1995.
Rocha later became an advisor to the Commander of the U.S. military&#8217;s Southern Command — a joint command of the U.S. military whose area of responsibility includes Cuba —from around 2006 to around 2012, according to the Justice Department.
During a series of meetings beginning last year, Rocha admitted to his decades of work as a Cuban intelligence agent to an undercover FBI agent who posed as a covert Cuban General Directorate of Intelligence representative.
Rocha allegedly told the undercover agent his efforts to &#8220;infiltrate&#8221; the U.S. government were &#8220;meticulous,&#8221; &#8220;very disciplined,&#8221; and had &#8220;strengthened the revolution immensely.&#8221;
The accused spy told the undercover agent at their first meeting outside a Miami church that his &#8220;number one priority was …any action on the part of Washington that would – would endanger the life of — of the leadership…revolution itself.&#8221;
Prosecutors allege throughout the meetings, Rocha behaved as a Cuban agent and consistently referred to the U.S. as &#8220;the enemy,&#8221; praised Fidel Castro as the &#8220;Comandante,&#8221; referred to his contacts in Cuban intelligence as his &#8220;Compañeros&#8221; and the Cuban intelligence services as the &#8220;Dirección.&#8221;
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&#8220;I have to protect what we did because what we did…the cement that has strengthened the last 40 years,&#8221; Rocha allegedly told the undercover agent during their second meeting, &#8220;What we have done&#8230;it&#8217;s enormous&#8230;More than a grand slam.&#8221;
It was not immediately clear if Rocha&#8217;s legal representation issued a comment.
His wife, Karla Wittkop Rocha, declined to comment when contacted by The Associated Press.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t need to talk to you,&#8221; she reportedly <a href="https://apnews.com/article/fbi-cuba-bolivia-former-ambassador-arrested-af9d80a4f268099364dff249dd74b3ec" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> the outlet before hanging up.
Rocha was expected to make an initial appearance before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in Miami on December 4.
The arrest comes nearly a year after U.S. authorities released a high-ranking federal official from prison after serving more than two decades for leaking information and identities of some American spies to Cuba.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-releases-ex-pentagon-official-who-spied-for-cuba-spy-from-prison-after-two-decades" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ana Belen Montes</a>, 65, a former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst, pled guilty in 2002 to conspiracy to commit espionage and using her status to leak classified information and four U.S. spy identities to Havana.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Holds News Conference At The Department Of Justice

Former U.S. Ambassador Accused Of Spying For Cuba

Former U.S. Ambassador Charged With Spying For Cuba

Crime

Cuba

Merrick Garland

China and Cuba have reportedly teamed up to transport Chinese nationals across the Atlantic Ocean&#8217;s Straits of Florida and smuggle them into the United States, according to a top Florida Republican lawmaker.
U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, who represents the Florida Keys, warned about the alleged partnership between the two communist nations in an <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12676999/carlos-gimenez-warns-cuba-smuggling-chinese-nationals-us.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> with the Daily Mail on Sunday — after 17 Chinese nationals were apprehended inside the congressman&#8217;s district last week.
&#8220;This is the first time I think we&#8217;ve caught [Chinese nationals] trying to cross getting into the Keys area &#8230; it&#8217;s concerning,&#8221; Gimenez told DailyMail.com during an exclusive interview. &#8220;I don&#8217;t know who they are, why they&#8217;re here, or what they were doing.&#8221;
U.S. Border Patrol agents and Florida Highway Patrol troopers responded to a vessel landing in Key Largo on October 23, which led to authorities capturing three Ecuadorians and another 17 Chinese immigrants — 11 men and six women, <a href="https://keysweekly.com/42/chinese-migrants-apprehended-following-illegal-keys-landing/#google_vignette" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to local media.
Gimenez, who serves on the Armed Services Committee, Homeland Security Committee, and the new Select Committee on China, immediately <a href="https://gimenez.house.gov/2023/10/rep-carlos-gimenez-raises-the-alarm-on-chinese-nationals-apprehended-in-the-florida-keys" target="_blank" rel="noopener">requested</a> additional information about the individuals.
&#8220;That really kind of concerns me that now they&#8217;re trying to make their way in through the Keys — my part of the country,&#8221; he told The Daily Mail. &#8220;I understand that the Chinese are having more and more influence. More and more infrastructure projects, more and more activity in our hemisphere, especially in Cuba.&#8221;
Such projects point to the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/china-to-build-spy-base-in-cuba-focused-on-intercepting-communications-within-u-s-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">secret deal China reached with Cuba </a>earlier this year to build an electronic eavesdropping base in the island territory — approximately 100 miles off the U.S. coast.
The latest incident followed a bombshell report from earlier this year that found <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/roughly-100-incidents-where-chinese-nationals-tried-to-access-u-s-military-sensitive-sites-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more than 100 incidents</a> have occurred where Chinese nationals posed as tourists to test the security of military bases as well as other sensitive sites.
&#8220;We&#8217;ve seen many, many Chinese nationals, saying they&#8217;re tourists and stuff, and they&#8217;ve been photographing sensitive installations,&#8221; Giminez told the outlet, adding the individuals have targeted critical U.S. infrastructure to &#8220;see how that can be compromised.&#8221;
One case involved Chinese nationals who said they were tourists attempting to force their way past guards at the military base in Fort Wainwright, Alaska, the home to the Army&#8217;s 11th Airborne Division. Chinese nationals have reportedly repeatedly photographed the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, the largest overland military test range in the U.S.
Chinese nationals were reportedly found swimming near a Key West, Florida, military facility. They claimed they were tourists. Other Chinese nationals seemed to be scuba diving near Cape Canaveral, where spy satellites are sent into space, according to the Journal.
Giminez blamed the potential national security threat on the Biden administration&#8217;s open border policies, which have led to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/federal-authorities-warn-of-iranian-backed-terrorists-trying-to-enter-u-s-southern-border" target="_blank" rel="noopener">record-breaking illegal immigrant encounters</a> since President Joe Biden took office in 2021 — an estimated 6.5 million just in the three fiscal years alone.
He warned of an increased threat of spying and terrorist activity in the United States.
&#8220;And we need to get to the bottom of it, and it&#8217;s a failure of the Biden administration,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Their porous border policies are making America less and less safe.&#8221;
Chairman Mark Green of the House Homeland Security Committee previously told the Daily Mail over 17,800 Chinese nationals have been released into the U.S. in 2023.
Hank Berrien contributed to this report.

House Lawmakers Work Towards Electing New Speaker On Capitol Hill

House Republican Sounds Alarm About Cuba Helping Smuggle Chinese Nationals Into U.S.

Biden Administration

Border Crisis

Robert Malley, President Joe Biden&#8217;s now-suspended special envoy to Iran, has reportedly been linked to an &#8220;Iranian spy ring&#8221; operating to shift U.S. policy to favor the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The news comes as Iranian-backed terrorists launched an unprecedented wave of attacks against Israel over the weekend, killing hundreds of people and wounding thousands more.
Tablet Magazine highlighted recent reports from Semafor and Iran International on emails stolen from the Iranian government allegedly outlining the operation.
Malley — who is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/top-biden-official-under-fbi-investigation-over-handling-of-classified-material-report">currently</a> under criminal investigation by the FBI over his handling of classified material — is accused in the reports of advancing several operatives in the spy ring, including helping an alleged Iranian asset named Ariane Tabatabai infiltrate her way into &#8220;some of the most sensitive positions in the U.S. government,&#8221; including at the State Department and Pentagon.
The operation began in 2014 when Iran created the Iran Experts Initiative (IEI), a propaganda and influence operation that recruited top talent from Iranians living abroad to help Iran obtain a favorable nuclear deal. The group reported to an official from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), which is a terrorist organization, and Iran’s then-Foreign Minister Javad Zarif was also reportedly involved.
The Table Magazine <a href="https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/iran-spy-ring-robert-malley-lee-smith" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a>, headlined &#8220;High-Level Iranian Spy Ring Busted In Washington,&#8221; states:
<blockquote>The contents of the emails are damning, showing a group of Iranian American academics being recruited by the Iranian regime, meeting together in foreign countries to receive instructions from top regime officials, and pledging their personal loyalty to the regime. They also show how these operatives used their Iranian heritage and Western academic positions to influence U.S. policy toward Iran, first as outside “experts” and then from high-level U.S. government posts. Both inside and outside of government, the efforts of members of this circle were repeatedly supported and advanced by Malley, who served as the U.S. government’s chief interlocutor with Iran under both the Obama and the Biden administrations. Malley is also the former head of the International Crisis Group (ICG), which directly paid and credentialed several key members of the regime’s influence operation.</blockquote>
Retired CIA analyst Peter Theroux, who was with the agency for 25 years, responded to the report by saying, “I know what a spy network looks like.”
&#8220;This is how recruited assets speak to their handling officers,&#8221; he said. &#8220;There’s lots of the mood music around that correspondence saying, let me know what you need me to collect. It seems clear who’s the subordinate here — what you’d call responsive to tasking.&#8221;
Theroux noted that for someone like Tabatabai to receive even the most basic security clearance from the U.S. government, she would be so thoroughly examined that it would be impossible that the Biden administration did not know about her connections to Iran.
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&#8220;The hoops you have to jump through to get a bare-bones top secret clearance even without compartments or special access programs are enormous,&#8221; he said. &#8220;They grill you on your foreign contacts. Contacts with any foreign government raise more red flags than Bernie Sanders’ honeymoon. Contacts with senior officials from enemy governments, classified as non-frat governments like Russia, China, Cuba, as well as Iran, are in a different category altogether — what would normally be totally disqualifying.&#8221;
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/top-house-republican-suggests-biden-official-could-have-committed-treason" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suggested</a> in July that Malley could have committed treason.
“Malley and others created an incredibly permissive environment for Hamas, for Iran, to do all these things,” <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/10/09/suspended-iran-special-envoy-rob-malley-under-scrutiny-for-hamas-remarks-following-israel-terror-attack/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Gabriel Noronha, a former special adviser on Iran at the State Department.
Last January, three U.S. officials working on the team negotiating with Iran <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bidens-iran-envoy-terrorist-groups-hamas-hezbollah-are-misunderstood-have-their-own-rationality" target="_blank" rel="noopener">left the group</a> because Malley would not take a harder negotiating position regarding sanctions.
Noronha said Malley and his negotiating team “purposefully funneled billions of dollars to [Iran] through lack of sanctions enforcement and provision of sanctions relief that has given them somewhere between $50 [billion] and $80 billion over the last two and a half years.”

Mediterranean Dialogue Forum in Rome

Top Biden Official Under Criminal Investigation Is Linked To ‘Iranian Spy Ring’ In D.C.: Report

Executive

Politics

Scandals

A staffer in the British Parliament was arrested earlier this year on suspicions he was spying for China, a <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/british-national-arrested-suspicion-china-spy-parliamentary-researcher-xrtbrw86m#:~:text=Counterterrorism%20police%20arrested%20the%20researcher,espionage%2Drelated%20offences%20in%20March.&amp;text=The%20researcher%20is%20a%20Briton,with%20Beijing%2C%20for%20several%20years." target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from The Sunday Times revealed. 
The suspect, a man in his late 20s who was a Parliamentary researcher, was reportedly “linked” with several Members of Parliament from the Conservative Party who had access to highly sensitive information, according to the report. The man was arrested in mid-March along with an additional suspect who is in his 30s.
“The mask has truly slipped,” Paddy McGuinness, the U.K.’s former deputy national security adviser told, the outlet.&#8221;This isn’t about China objecting to interference in their internal affairs as they so often claim. Rather they are messing in ours, with a casual disregard for our democracy and our sovereignty.”
Both suspects were charged with violating Section One of Britain’s Official Secrets Act 1911, which prohibits sharing information or communications that may be “prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state” and “calculated to be or …  intended to be directly or indirectly useful to an enemy,” respectively, the Times notes. 
Some Conservative MPs that were reportedly linked to the researcher include the U.K.’s minister of state for security, Tom Tugendhat, and the chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Alicia Kearns. However, it’s believed the alleged spy only worked with Tugendhat prior to his role as security minister, POLITICO Europe <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/rishi-sunak-raises-significant-concerns-on-china-spy-in-parliament/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a>. 
“It is inevitable the Chinese Communist party (CCP) would target and seek to undermine parliament’s leading voices who have demonstrated the ability to constrain the CCP’s ambitions,” a source close to Kearns said, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/sep/09/parliamentary-researcher-who-spied-for-china-arrested" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to The Guardian. 
The researcher had a parliamentary pass and reportedly worked on international relations policies with various MPs – including China-centered policies. According to the Times, prior to his work as a researcher at the Palace of Westminster, the suspect spent time working and living in China. During that period, officials say he may have been recruited by the Chinese government as a sleeper agent with the goal of working his way into political groups critical of Beijing. 
According to a government source, the suspect may have even changed the minds of some legislators. “I’m pretty sure he [the researcher] turned some backbenchers from China hawks into being apathetic about Beijing,&#8221; the source told the Times.
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak brought up the revelation with the prime minister of China, Li Qang, at the G20 summit in India, telling reporters that he conveyed “very strong concerns about any interference in our parliamentary democracy, which is obviously unacceptable,” POLITICO Europe <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/rishi-sunak-raises-significant-concerns-on-china-spy-in-parliament/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. 
“We discussed a range of things and I raised areas where there are disagreements,” the British PM said. “And this is just part of our strategy to protect ourselves, protect our values and our interests, to align our approach to China with that of our allies like America, Australia, Canada, Japan and others, but also to engage where it makes sense,” he added.
A government source told the Times that the news represents a “major escalation by China,” and that the U.K. has “never seen anything like this before.” 
A <a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/chinese-gate-crashers-at-u-s-bases-spark-espionage-concerns-cdef8187" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from The Wall Street Journal last week outlined over 100 instances of alleged Chinese tourists attempting to gain access to U.S. military bases and installations. According to officials cited by the outlet, the “tourists” were actually performing espionage and attempting to take photographs and get information about security practices at the locations. 
“The advantage the Chinese have is they are willing to throw people at collection in large numbers,” Emily Harding, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the Journal. “If a few of them get caught, it will be very difficult for the U.S. government to prove anything beyond trespassing, and those who don’t get caught are likely to collect something useful.”

Palace of Westminster

British Parliament Worker Arrested Amid Allegations Of Spying For China

United Kingdom

Two U.S. Navy sailors were arrested on national security-related charges related to allegedly sending sensitive military information to the Chinese Communist Party, federal officials said on Thursday.
“These individuals stand accused of violating the commitments they made to protect the United States and betraying the public trust, to the benefit of the [People’s Republic of China] government,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, said in a <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/two-us-navy-servicemembers-arrested-transmitting-military-information-peoples-republic-china" target="_blank" rel="noopener">news release</a>.
U.S. Navy Sailor Jinchao Wei, an active-duty machinist’s mate on the amphibious U.S.S. Essex assault ship stationed at Naval Base San Diego, was arrested on Wednesday for espionage-related charges upon arriving for work at the homeport of the Navy&#8217;s Pacific Fleet in California.
Wei, 22, was indicted for conspiracy to send national defense information to a Chinese intelligence officer who allegedly communicated with Wei using encrypted messages to provide photos, videos and documents about the U.S.S. Essex and other Navy ships as early as February 2022, according to U.S. officials. Wei allegedly disclosed the locations of various Navy ships, defensive weapons, technical and mechanical manuals to the intelligence officer in exchange for thousands of dollars over the course of the conspiracy. The sailor also allegedly passed along information about the number of U.S. Marines training during previously scheduled international maritime warfare exercises.
&#8220;When a soldier or sailor chooses cash over country, and hands over national defense information in an ultimate act of betrayal, the United States will aggressively investigate and prosecute,&#8221; U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman for the Southern District of California, said.
Authorities also arrested  U.S. Navy Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao, a sailor at Naval Base Ventura County in California, on a charge of conspiracy and receipt of a bribe, for allegedly transmitting sensitive military information to a Chinese official posing as a maritime economic researcher.
Zhao, 26, allegedly communicated with an unnamed Chinese intelligence officer from August 2021 through May 2023 by &#8220;surreptitiously recording&#8221; photographs and videos of classified military information and then transmitting to the foreign officer, authorities said.
According to a news release, the Chinese intelligence officer paid Zhao approximately $14,866 in exchange for classified controlled operational plans for a large-scale U.S. military exercise involving Naval force movements, amphibious landings, and maritime operations and logistics in the Indo-Pacific Region. An indictment against Zhao further alleges the Petty Officer exchanged photographs of electrical diagrams and blueprints for a radar system stationed on a U.S. military base in Okinawa, Japan.
“By sending this sensitive military information to an intelligence officer employed by a hostile foreign state, the defendant betrayed his sacred oath to protect our country and uphold the Constitution,” said U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada for the Central District of California. “Unlike the vast majority of U.S. Navy personnel who serve the nation with honor, distinction and courage, Mr. Zhao chose to corruptly sell out his colleagues and his country.”
Zhao faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison if convicted.
Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen said during a Thursday press briefing reported by <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/2-us-sailors-national-security-china-bribe-charges" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fox News</a> that the threat from China &#8220;stands apart&#8221; on the world stage to the national security of the U.S.
&#8220;China is unrivaled in the audacity and the range of its malign efforts to subvert our laws,&#8221; Olsen said Thursday.

President Biden Delivers Remarks At Naval Base Point Loma

Two U.S. Navy Sailors Arrested On Espionage Charges Involving Alleged Ties To China

Two U.S. Navy Sailors Arrested On Charges Involving Alleged Ties To China

China

National Security

U.S. Navy

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/communist-china" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chinese spy balloon</a> that President Joe Biden allowed to fly over the U.S. earlier this year was reportedly carrying American-made hardware to capture reconnaissance imagery.
The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/chinese-balloon-used-american-tech-to-spy-on-americans-2e3f5039" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that the multiple federal agencies discovered that the balloon was &#8220;crammed with commercially available U.S. gear, some of it for sale online, and interspersed with more specialized Chinese sensors and other equipment to collect photos, video and other information to transmit to China.&#8221;
The report also said that the spy balloon had large solar panels to power it and that it was able to capture &#8220;radar data.&#8221;
China has threatened the U.S. against making details from its investigation into the balloon public, claiming that they will be forced to respond in a harsh manner.
The Biden administration has so far cowered to China&#8217;s demands and has not shared details from the investigation with the public, even though the U.S. has a history of doing so with other nations.
Republican senators have called out the Biden administration over its refusal to show the public what China was flying over sensitive U.S. military installations.
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In a letter to White House earlier this month, the senators wrote in-part:
<blockquote>In your State of the Union address this year, you promised the American people that you would protect the United States from the PRC&#8217;s threats to our sovereignty. While four months have passed since a Chinese surveillance balloon was allowed to fly across the United States, your administration has yet to provide the American people a full accounting of how this spy platform was allowed to traverse across sovereign U.S. territory, what the balloon carried, and what it collected during its mission. Your administration has also not taken appropriate steps to hold the PRC accountable for this flagrant violation of U.S. sovereignty. As such, we urge you to immediately direct all relevant administration officials to release information, as appropriate, to the American public regarding the Chinese spy balloon.</blockquote>
The senators who <a href="https://www.cramer.senate.gov/news/press-releases/sen-cramer-colleagues-call-out-biden-administration-for-sidestepping-spy-balloon-inquiry" target="_blank" rel="noopener">signed</a> the letter were Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Rick Scott (R-FL), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Ted Budd, (R-NC), Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), Jim Risch (R-ID), John Cornyn (R-TX), James Lankford (R-OK), Susan Collins (R-ME), Jerry Moran (R-KS), and Bill Hagerty (R-TN).

Recovery of High Altitude Surveillance Balloon Off South Carolina Coast

New Information Revealed About Chinese Spy Balloon That Crossed U.S.: Report

A Moscow court extended the pre-trial detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich by at least another three months after Russian authorities arrested the American journalist on espionage charges.
Gershkovich, 31, was arrested while reporting in Yekaterinburg, located in the Ural Mountains, on espionage charges back in March and could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Investigators accused Gershkovich of acting on instructions from U.S. officials by collecting state secret information involving the Russian military, which the journalist, his employer, and U.S. officials have all denied.
&#8220;By the decision of the Lefortovsky District Court of Moscow dated May 23, 2023, the term of detention in respect of Evan Gershkovich, accused of committing a crime under Article 276 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, was extended for three months and one day, that is, until August 30, 2023,&#8221; the court decision <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/evan-gershkovichs-pre-trial-detention-extended-three-months-rcna85797" target="_blank" rel="noopener">read</a>.
Russian news agency TASS <a href="https://t.me/tass_agency/193157" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that Federal Security Service (FSB) investigators requested the Lefortovo Court of Moscow extend Gershkovich&#8217;s detention.
The Wall Street Journal said the outlet was &#8220;deeply disappointed&#8221; in the court&#8217;s decision.
&#8220;Today, our colleague, and distinguished journalist, Evan Gershkovich, appeared for a pre-trial hearing in a Moscow court,&#8221; the statement <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/investigators-ask-russian-court-to-extend-evan-gershkovichs-pretrial-detention-d5281ffb" target="_blank" rel="noopener">read</a>. &#8220;While we expected there would be no change to Evan&#8217;s wrongful detention, we are deeply disappointed. The accusations are demonstrably false, and we continue to demand his immediate release.&#8221;
Legal experts told the outlet that Russia&#8217;s Criminal Procedure Code could permit defendants facing espionage charges to be detained for up to 12 months before trial begins.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told CNN that Gershkovich &#8220;shouldn&#8217;t be detained at all,&#8221; calling for Russian authorities to release the reporter immediately.
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/putin-authorized-wall-street-journal-reporter-arrest-spying-charges-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">formally declared</a> last month that Russian authorities had wrongfully detained Gershkovich, giving federal officials additional resources to secure his release, including providing the State Department access to &#8220;exert pressure on Moscow, monitor intelligence, build diplomatic coalitions, exert media pressure and fight for regular consular access.&#8221;
Blinken announced the official classification, giving control to the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs at the State Department.
&#8220;Journalism is not a crime,&#8221; Vedant Patel, a State Department spokesperson, told NBC in a statement. &#8220;We condemn the Kremlin&#8217;s continued repression of independent voices in Russia and its ongoing war against the truth.&#8221;
Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly authorized Kremlin officials to arrest Gershkovich.
Sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that Putin&#8217;s arrest of the reporter marks &#8220;the growing influence of Kremlin hardliners who push for deepening a confrontation with Washington they view as irreversible.&#8221;
The Russian Foreign Ministry claimed the United States was politicizing Gershokovich&#8217;s detention, saying, &#8220;It is unacceptable for officials in Washington and the Western media to whip up a stir with the clear intention of giving this case a political coloring.&#8221;
Gershkovich became the first American journalist arrested on espionage charges since the end of the Cold War.

WSJ Reporter Arrested In Russia Has Pre-Trial Detention Extended By Three Months

Federal authorities arrested a U.S. citizen on Tuesday accused of spying for the Chinese government by coordinating with Chinese Communist Party officials to share information on political dissidents in Boston, Massachusetts, from 2018 to 2022.
Litang Liang has been indicted by a grand jury for acting as an agent of a foreign government without notice to the U.S. attorney general, according to <a href="https://www.universalhub.com/images/2023/liang-indictment.pdf">court documents</a> reported by the Boston Globe.
Liang, 63, allegedly spent four years spying on local Chinese communities around Boston neighborhoods by turning over lists of names and photographs to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) — and made attempts to organize rallies supporting Taiwan&#8217;s reunification with mainland China and counter-protests against pro-democracy dissidents.
&#8220;Liang communicated with [People&#8217;s Republic of China] government officials — knowing them to be PRC government officials — in several ways,&#8221; the indictment alleges. &#8220;These included telephone calls and messaging using the social media application WeChat,&#8221; a PRC-based communication app that stores all messages on servers outside the United States.
The affidavit alleges instances involving Liang reporting a student who destroyed a PRC flag to Chinese officials, inquiring about the &#8220;political standing&#8221; of a local lawyer to place the professional on a &#8220;blacklist,&#8221; and other informant activity about local Chinese family associations in New England and New York.
Liang has also been accused of coordinating with United Front Work Department, a CCP committee that targets agencies, social organizations, businesses, universities, research institutes, and individuals to further China&#8217;s goal, court documents say.
Frances Hui, policy and advocacy coordinator for the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, organized a rally in 2019 opposing the government of Hong Kong&#8217;s proposed bill that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China.
Hiu said Liang&#8217;s actions over the past years were &#8220;definitely nerve-wracking to just learn all about what he has done in the past years, and especially to the people that participated in the rally that I organized in August of 2019.&#8221;
&#8220;I saw all of these threats coming through the WeChat groups that we were overseeing,&#8221; Hui told <a href="https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/brighton-man-accused-of-helping-chinese-government-spy-on-opponents-in-boston-area/3041681/">NBC10 Boston</a> on Tuesday. &#8220;There were gun threats and people threatening to bring guns — like firearms — to the rallies, and to shoot me, even.&#8221;
Hui urged dissidents from Hong Kong to pay attention to the alleged organized spy activity.
&#8220;I think that we just have to wake up to this and realize that this is the trans-national repression that we are facing under China&#8217;s extensive rule.&#8221;
Liang faces up to 15 years in prison.

Protesters Call For Boycott of China

Chinese Government Spy Arrested In Boston, Court Docs Say

US Citizen Spying For Chinese Government Arrested, Court Docs Say

Boston

Chinese Communist Party

American officials are concerned that <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/china" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chinese</a> technology at ports across the country could provide the communist nation <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/espionage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">insights</a> about <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/supply-chain" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shipping</a> traffic and <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/national-security" target="_blank" rel="noopener">national defense</a> activities, according to a Sunday <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/pentagon-sees-giant-cargo-cranes-as-possible-chinese-spying-tools-887c4ade" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from The Wall Street Journal.
Cranes and large steel structures manufactured by Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries, also known as ZPMC, contain sensors that monitor the destination of shipping containers which move through American ports, the WSJ reported. Defense authorities have voiced concern that the Chinese-owned engineering company may be offering the Chinese Communist Party data regarding items shipped for the purpose of American military operations.
“Cranes can be the new Huawei,” former National Counterintelligence and Security Center Director Bill Evanina told the outlet, comparing the infrastructure to products <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bipartisan-group-of-senators-introduce-bill-to-ban-chinese-telecom-giant-huawei" target="_blank" rel="noopener">manufactured</a> by the Shenzhen-based telecommunications company. “It’s the perfect combination of legitimate business that can also masquerade as clandestine intelligence collection.”
Evanina added that the cranes could be remotely controlled by adversarial actors seeking to disrupt the flow of goods from American shipping facilities.
Ports in Virginia, South Carolina, and Maryland which are sometimes used by nearby military bases have recently acquired new cranes from ZPMC. FBI agents reportedly uncovered information-gathering technology aboard a ship delivering ZPMC cranes to the Port of Baltimore in 2021.
The defense spending <a href="https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20221205/BILLS-117hres_-SUS.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bill</a> passed by Congress at the end of last year directs the United States Maritime Administration and Department of Homeland Security to conduct an unclassified study to “assess whether there are cybersecurity or national security threats posed by foreign manufactured cranes at United States ports.” ZPMC claims to control 70% of the worldwide crane market, while one unnamed American official told The Wall Street Journal that some 80% of ship-to-shore cranes at ports in the United States are manufactured by the firm.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning dismissed the revelations from The Wall Street Journal as “complete paranoia” during a Monday press briefing in Beijing, according to a <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/china-america-zpmc-cranes-ports-national-security-1785743" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from Newsweek, and said the concerns are &#8220;misleading to the American public.&#8221;
Reports of the possible spy cranes come shortly after at least one Chinese surveillance balloon recently traversed the continental United States. The vessel crossed Montana, the location of many defense assets and missile silos, then <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/chinese-spy-balloon-flies-out-of-montana-and-over-new-u-s-state" target="_blank" rel="noopener">traveled</a> over states such as Kansas and Missouri before the object was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-military-shoots-down-chinese-spy-balloon-after-biden-let-it-travel-across-country" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shot down</a> by the American military off the coast of the Carolinas. The balloon was reportedly one of several deployed over military sites across the planet.
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Anxieties surrounding Chinese espionage also occur as President Joe Biden prohibits TikTok, a social media platform controlled by Chinese technology company ByteDance, on devices <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-unanimously-votes-to-ban-tiktok-on-government-devices" target="_blank" rel="noopener">owned</a> by the federal government. The move was preceded by several similar bans issued by state governments and requests from lawmakers to limit the platform’s reach in the United States.
The White House is also expected to unveil an executive order that would ban American investors from funding the development of Chinese advanced semiconductors, quantum computing, artificial intelligence, and other technologies with surveillance and military applications, according to a recent <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/white-house-refining-executive-order-banning-american-companies-from-investing-in-key-chinese-sectors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from The New York Times. Lawmakers threatened to pursue their own investment restrictions in the absence of plans from the executive branch.

Container ships at dock

Defense Officials Worry About New Chinese Espionage Threat, Report Says

Chinese Spy Cranes: Defense Officials Concerned By Surveillance Of American Ports From CCP-Owned Company

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