WASHINGTON – A former CIA officer has been arrested on charges of unlawfulretention of national defence information following an intensiveinvestigation after a number of US informants were identified by China.
Jerry Chun Shing Lee, aka Zhen Cheng Li, 53, was arrested on Monday nightafter arriving at John F Kennedy International Airport in New York, theDepartment of Justice said.
A naturalised US citizen, Lee is currently residing in Hong Kong. He workedfor the CIA between 1994 and 2007.
Lee, who made his initial appearance in the Eastern District of New York,is charged with unlawful retention of national defence information andfaces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, if convicted.
According to court documents, in August 2012, Lee and his family left HongKong to return to the United States to live in northern Virginia.
While travelling back to the United States, Lee and his family had hotelstays in Hawaii and Virginia.
During his hotel stays, FBI agents conducted courtauthorised searches ofLee’s room and luggage, and found that Lee was in unauthorised possessionof materials relating to the national defence, the Department of Justicesaid.
“Specifically, agents found two small books containing handwritten notesthat contained classified information, including but not limited to, truenames and phone numbers of assets and covert CIA employees, operationalnotes from asset meetings, operational meeting locations and locations ofcovert facilities,” the Department of Justice said.
The New York Times said Lee helped China dismantle United States spyingoperations and identify informants.
“The collapse of the spy network was one of the American government’s worstintelligence failures in recent years,” the daily said.
Lee’s arrest capped an intense FBI inquiry that began around 2012, twoyears after the CIA began losing its informants in China, the daily said.
According to court papers, Lee’s datebook contained handwritten informationpertaining to, operational notes from asset meetings, operational meetinglocations, operational phone numbers, true names of assets, and covertfacilities.
The address book contained true names and phone numbers of assets andcovert CIA employees, as well as the addresses of CIA facilities.
“The CIA classification authority determined that the books containedclassified information, up to and including secret information and, in atleast one instance,” the federal complaint said.
The New York Times reported that more than a dozen CIA informants werekilled or imprisoned by the Chinese government which was a major set backfor its operations in China.