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US POLICE SAID they had arrested a former CIA agent, Hong Kong resident Jerry Chun Shing Lee, after discovering he had an unauthorised notebook that had the identities of undercover US spies.
Lee, a naturalised US citizen also known as Zhen Cheng Li, was arrested late on Monday after he arrived at JFK International Airport in New York.
The Department of Justice said Lee, 53, grew up in the United States and served in the US Army before joining the Central Intelligence Agency as a case officer in 1994.
He served in unnamed overseas locations and left the agency in 2007, later apparently taking a job in Hong Kong.
In a complaint filed in a New York federal court, the Justice Department said that in 2012, FBI agents with court-ordered warrants secretly searched Lee’s luggage while he was travelling in the United States and found he was carrying top secret materials he was not authorised to have.
“Agents found two small books containing handwritten notes that contained classified information, including but not limited to, true names and phone numbers of assets and covert CIA employees, operational notes from asset meetings, operational meeting locations and locations of covert facilities,” the Justice Department said.
Lee was charged with unlawful retention of national defense information, a charge that can bring up to 10 years in prison.
Officials did not say why it took so long to bring charges against Lee, or whether he had leaked any materials to foreign countries.
But the case takes place amid concern in the US intelligence community that the Chinese government has been able to cripple their operations in that country.
The New York Times reported last year that starting in 2010, to the end of 2012, the Chinese killed “at least a dozen” sources the CIA had inside China and imprisoned six or more others.
A hunt for a “mole” in the agency led to one person, a “former operative” now living elsewhere in Asia, the Times said. But there was not enough information to arrest him.
But others in the agency blamed sloppy work and not a mole, the Times added.
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R.I.P. but a worker with no flotation device, near water? Someone has to answer for this.
@Paul Culligan: Yes RIP, indeed. Why so quick to blame someone before the HSA or Gardai have established any facts? Your reaction typifies our collective attitude as a nation.
@Paul Culligan: if the poor man fell between a vessell and the pier wall most likely his flotation device inhibited his ability to move freely in a confined space. Either way makes no difference now. RIP and condolences to his family.
@Paul Culligan: yes his employer should have told him the dangers of water. But this is ireland so the Hsa is going to have an inquest no doubt. I hate accidents R.I.P.
@Paul Culligan: where does it say he wasn’t wearing a flotation device. He could have banged his head, suffered trauma to the body, with this weather and that early the water would have been freezing, etc. Wearing a flotation device doesn’t guarantee your survival if you find yourself in water.
@Ciarán McPhillips: couldn’t agree more
@Ciarán McPhillips: I’ll get back to you on that one.
Surprised they took him to the mater. I would have thought the port would have to have some sort of medical facility on site.
@The Dublinist: Major hospital 5 minutes away or a docks medical centre. Which would you prefer?
@Heffos Army: Considering the wait and staffing issues in the hospitals at the moment a dockside medical center probably wouldn’t look too bad…
@Jason: is being stupid something you practice Jason?
A tragic case which brings back bad memories of a similar accident while working in the construction if the linkspans (roll on, roll off) about ten years ago. It is often the case that people dont follow safety procedures resulting in harm. Tragic either way
@ChuckE: We have no idea what happened here. Can we please wait before we pass or suggest any cause. Accidents happen. The circumstances described here are not unusual. Water can be a very unforgiving environment. Deepest sympathies to the family and loved ones.
RIP.
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