For decades, while America obsessed over Soviet spies, China quietly penetrated the highest levels of government. Now, for the first time, based on numerous interviews with key insiders at the FBI and CIA as well as with Chinese agents and people close to them, David Wise tells the full story of China€™s many victories and defeats in its American spy wars.Two key cases interweave throughout: Katrina Leung, code-named Parlor Maid, worked for the FBI for years, even after she became a secret double agent for China, aided by love affairs with both of her FBI handlers. Here, too, is the inside story of the case, code-named Tiger Trap, of a key Chinese-American scientist suspected of stealing nuclear weapons secrets. These two cases led to many others, involving famous names from Wen Ho Lee to Richard Nixon, stunning national security leaks, and sophisticated cyberspying. The story takes us up to the present, with a West Coast spy ring whose members were sentenced in 2010€”b
From Publishers Weekly
Wise (Spy) leads readers into the "the wilderness of mirrors that is counterintelligence" for this history of Chinese espionage against the U.S. He reveals how Chinese intelligence has used ethnic Chinese in the U.S. to penetrate American counterintelligence and steal American nuclear weapons data. While Wise explores a spectrum of Chinese spying efforts, from Sun-Tzu's The Art of War to cyberspies, he homes in on two sensational cases, code-named Parlor Maid and Tiger Trap, that epitomize their tactics. Parlor Maid was the colorful Katrina Leung, a Chinese-American double agent who slept with her FBI handlers while stealing their secrets, and Tiger Trap refers to the FBI's operation to expose China's moles inside America's nuclear weapons labs. Wise's conclusion is sobering—"China's spying on America is ongoing, current, and shows no sign of diminishing"—and his book is a fascinating history of Chinese espionage that should appeal to a diverse readership. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Review
"Wise's conclusion is sobering--'China's spying on America is ongoing, current, and shows no signs of diminishing--and his book is a fascinating history of Chinese espionage that should appeal to a diverse readership." - Publishers Weekly "David Wise has done it again. This time it's China. He's taken us deep into the American efforts to root out Chinese spies here and abroad. As always, Wise is the master - writing with clarity and style abou thte murky and consequential underworld of nuclear espionage." - Tom Brokaw "David Wise is a master of the nonfiction thriller and, once again, he delivers a fact-filled inside account, with sources named and no one spared, including some very amorous and reckless FBI agents. There is an important message in Tiger Trap -- about the often overlooked threat posed by China's demonstrated ability to dig out America's most important military and economic secrets." -Seymour M. Hersh "David Wise has given us a rare combination in today's literary world -- a book that is great reading, while at the same time shedding light on a subject whose seriousness should concern every thinking American." - Jim Webb, U.S. Senator from Virginia , author of Born Fighting , Fields of Fire "Extraordinary. A stunningly detailed history of China's spy war with us - from sexy socialite double agents to "kill switches" implanted offshore in the computer chips for our electric grid. Wise remains the master." –R. James Woolsey, former Director of Central Intelligence "Forget Moscow rules, Lubyanka Prison, and KGB assassins. Today’s most threatening web of spies is spun out of Beijing and reaches from Silicon Valley to the Pentagon. David Wise has written a dead-on accurate narrative of major PRC cases against American targets. He names names, details agent tradecraft, and takes you into the courtroom and even a jail cell to witness the final unraveling of these sensational cases. You will never think about Chinese espionage the same way again. " - Peter Earnest, Executive Director of the International Spy Museum
From the Back Cover
PRAISE FOR TIGER TRAP
“Extraordinary. A stunningly detailed history of China’s spy war with us—from sexy socialite double agents to ‘kill switches’ implanted offshore in the computer chips for our electric grid. Wise remains the master.” —R. James Woolsey, former Director of Central Intelligence
“David Wise has done it again. He's taken us deep into the American efforts to root out Chinese spies here and abroad. As always, Wise is the master—writing with clarity and style about the murky and consequential underworld of nuclear espionage. ” —Tom Brokaw
“David Wise is a master of the nonfiction thriller and, once again, he delivers a fact-filled inside account, with sources named and no one spared, including some very amorous and reckless FBI agents. There is an important message in Tiger Trap— about the often overlooked threat posed by China’s demonstrated ability to dig out America’s most important military and economic secrets.” —Seymour M. Hersh
“David Wise has given us a rare combination in today’s literary world—a book that is great reading, while at the same time shedding light on a subject whose seriousness should concern every thinking American.” —Jim Webb, US Senator from Virginia, author of Born Fighting , Fields of Fire , and other books
About the Author
DAVID WISE's bestselling books on espionage and national security include Spy: The Inside Story of How the FBI's Robert Hanssen Betrayed America , Nightmover: How Aldrich Ames Sold the CIA to the KGB for $4.6 Million, and The Invisible Government.
Prelude.............................................................11. A Thousand Grains of Sand........................................52. Parlor Maid......................................................203. The Recruitment..................................................294. Double Game......................................................345. Destroy After Reading............................................426. "Holy Shit, Mr. Grove!"..........................................507. Riding the Tiger: China and the Neutron Bomb.....................658. The Walk-in......................................................719. Kindred Spirit: Wen Ho Lee.......................................8110. Sego Palm.......................................................9911. Trouble in Paradise.............................................10912. Ethereal Throne: The Spy Who Never Was..........................12113. Storm Clouds....................................................13414. The Counterspy..................................................13915. Royal Tourist...................................................15416. Richard Nixon and the Hong Kong Hostess.........................16717. Anubis..........................................................17618. Endgame.........................................................18719. Eagle Claw......................................................20220. Red Flower......................................................21421. The Cyberspies..................................................22722. An Afterword....................................................236Author's Note.......................................................243Notes...............................................................247Index...............................................................279
Chapter One
A THOUSAND GRAINS OF SAND
For almost half a century during the Cold War, the world focused on the global espionage battle between the United States and the Soviet Union. The duel between the CIA and the KGB, portrayed in countless books, films, and news stories, captured the public imagination.
Espionage became a kind of entertainment, in no small measure due to the fictional exploits of James Bond, first popularized when President John F. Kennedy let it be known that he enjoyed Ian Fleming's stories. John le Carré's George Smiley provided a more authentic, if less glamorous, rendering of the spy wars.
Fiction masked the cold reality. In the actual conflict, spies and their agents died. Lives were shattered. The CIA plotted to overthrow governments and assassinate political leaders. The KGB's supermoles, Aldrich Ames in the CIA and Robert Hanssen in the FBI, stole US secrets by the trunkful and betrayed agents working for US intelligence, many of whom were executed.
As the East-West intelligence battles played out in the cafés of Vienna, in divided Berlin, and in back alleys across the globe, scant attention was paid to the espionage operations of a rising global power—China—and the limited efforts of US counterintelligence, not always successful, to block Beijing's attempts to acquire America's secrets. Inside the FBI, Soviet spies were regarded as the principal quarry; Chinese counterintelligence was relegated to a back seat. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Russia's spies continued to target the United States, as was demonstrated by the arrest in 2010 of ten "illegals" sent by Moscow to pose as Americans and gather intelligence in the United States. The KGB's espionage arm simply became the SVR (Sluzhba Vneshnei Razvedki), and US counterintelligence efforts against Moscow continued much as before.
Yet China has in many ways become America's chief rival. And China has spied on America for decades, with some spectacular results, little known outside intelligence circles. At the same time, the end of the Cold War enabled the FBI to rethink its counterintelligence priorities. The bureau shift ed its focus to China, to the espionage war with the MSS, the Ministry of State Security—China's foreign spy agency—and the intelligence branch of the PLA, the People's Liberation Army. This book offers a history of China's spying within the United States, focusing chiefly on recent decades, but also looking at some earlier episodes from the post-World War II era. It is a story of interlocking agents and cases, centered around the two particularly dramatic stories of PARLOR MAID and TIGER TRAP. It is a history largely undisclosed, and yet no less significant than the parallel story of Soviet and Russian penetrations. There have been no major films, no best-selling thrillers, and relatively little press coverage about Chinese espionage. Yet the drama, and the stakes, are just as high.
America and China are locked in an uneasy embrace. China needs the United States to buy its exports, and American companies long to expand their sales in the huge Chinese market. Washington looks to China for help in dealing with intractable foreign policy issues, such as the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and Iran.
For decades, while America obsessed over Soviet spies, China quietly penetrated the highest levels of government. Now, for the first time, based on numerous interviews with key insiders at the FBI and CIA as well as with Chinese agents and people close to them, David Wise tells the full story of China€™s many victories and defeats in its American spy wars.Two key cases interweave throughout: Katrina Leung, code-named Parlor Maid, worked for the FBI for years, even after she became a secret double agent for China, aided by love affairs with both of her FBI handlers. Here, too, is the inside story of the case, code-named Tiger Trap, of a key Chinese-American scientist suspected of stealing nuclear weapons secrets. These two cases led to many others, involving famous names from Wen Ho Lee to Richard Nixon, stunning national security leaks, and sophisticated cyberspying. The story takes us up to the present, with a West Coast spy ring whose members were sentenced in 2010€”b
From Publishers Weekly
Wise (Spy) leads readers into the "the wilderness of mirrors that is counterintelligence" for this history of Chinese espionage against the U.S. He reveals how Chinese intelligence has used ethnic Chinese in the U.S. to penetrate American counterintelligence and steal American nuclear weapons data. While Wise explores a spectrum of Chinese spying efforts, from Sun-Tzu's The Art of War to cyberspies, he homes in on two sensational cases, code-named Parlor Maid and Tiger Trap, that epitomize their tactics. Parlor Maid was the colorful Katrina Leung, a Chinese-American double agent who slept with her FBI handlers while stealing their secrets, and Tiger Trap refers to the FBI's operation to expose China's moles inside America's nuclear weapons labs. Wise's conclusion is sobering—"China's spying on America is ongoing, current, and shows no sign of diminishing"—and his book is a fascinating history of Chinese espionage that should appeal to a diverse readership. (June)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Review
"Wise's conclusion is sobering--'China's spying on America is ongoing, current, and shows no signs of diminishing--and his book is a fascinating history of Chinese espionage that should appeal to a diverse readership."
- Publishers Weekly "David Wise has done it again. This time it's China. He's taken us deep into the American efforts to root out Chinese spies here and abroad. As always, Wise is the master - writing with clarity and style abou thte murky and consequential underworld of nuclear espionage."
- Tom Brokaw "David Wise is a master of the nonfiction thriller and, once again, he delivers a fact-filled inside account, with sources named and no one spared, including some very amorous and reckless FBI agents. There is an important message in Tiger Trap -- about the often overlooked threat posed by China's demonstrated ability to dig out America's most important military and economic secrets."
-Seymour M. Hersh "David Wise has given us a rare combination in today's literary world -- a book that is great reading, while at the same time shedding light on a subject whose seriousness should concern every thinking American."
- Jim Webb, U.S. Senator from Virginia , author of Born Fighting , Fields of Fire "Extraordinary. A stunningly detailed history of China's spy war with us - from sexy socialite double agents to "kill switches" implanted offshore in the computer chips for our electric grid. Wise remains the master."
–R. James Woolsey, former Director of Central Intelligence "Forget Moscow rules, Lubyanka Prison, and KGB assassins. Today’s most threatening web of spies is spun out of Beijing and reaches from Silicon Valley to the Pentagon. David Wise has written a dead-on accurate narrative of major PRC cases against American targets. He names names, details agent tradecraft, and takes you into the courtroom and even a jail cell to witness the final unraveling of these sensational cases. You will never think about Chinese espionage the same way again. " - Peter Earnest, Executive Director of the International Spy Museum
From the Back Cover
PRAISE FOR TIGER TRAP
“Extraordinary. A stunningly detailed history of China’s spy war with us—from sexy socialite double agents to ‘kill switches’ implanted offshore in the computer chips for our electric grid. Wise remains the master.” —R. James Woolsey, former Director of Central Intelligence
“David Wise has done it again. He's taken us deep into the American efforts to root out Chinese spies here and abroad. As always, Wise is the master—writing with clarity and style about the murky and consequential underworld of nuclear espionage. ” —Tom Brokaw
“David Wise is a master of the nonfiction thriller and, once again, he delivers a fact-filled inside account, with sources named and no one spared, including some very amorous and reckless FBI agents. There is an important message in Tiger Trap— about the often overlooked threat posed by China’s demonstrated ability to dig out America’s most important military and economic secrets.” —Seymour M. Hersh
“David Wise has given us a rare combination in today’s literary world—a book that is great reading, while at the same time shedding light on a subject whose seriousness should concern every thinking American.” —Jim Webb, US Senator from Virginia, author of Born Fighting , Fields of Fire , and other books
About the Author
DAVID WISE's bestselling books on espionage and national security include Spy: The Inside Story of How the FBI's Robert Hanssen Betrayed America , Nightmover: How Aldrich Ames Sold the CIA to the KGB for $4.6 Million, and The Invisible Government.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
TIGER TRAP
America's Secret Spy War with China By David Wise
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Copyright © 2011 David Wise
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-547-55310-8
Contents
Prelude.............................................................11. A Thousand Grains of Sand........................................52. Parlor Maid......................................................203. The Recruitment..................................................294. Double Game......................................................345. Destroy After Reading............................................426. "Holy Shit, Mr. Grove!"..........................................507. Riding the Tiger: China and the Neutron Bomb.....................658. The Walk-in......................................................719. Kindred Spirit: Wen Ho Lee.......................................8110. Sego Palm.......................................................9911. Trouble in Paradise.............................................10912. Ethereal Throne: The Spy Who Never Was..........................12113. Storm Clouds....................................................13414. The Counterspy..................................................13915. Royal Tourist...................................................15416. Richard Nixon and the Hong Kong Hostess.........................16717. Anubis..........................................................17618. Endgame.........................................................18719. Eagle Claw......................................................20220. Red Flower......................................................21421. The Cyberspies..................................................22722. An Afterword....................................................236Author's Note.......................................................243Notes...............................................................247Index...............................................................279
Chapter One
A THOUSAND GRAINS OF SAND
For almost half a century during the Cold War, the world focused on the global espionage battle between the United States and the Soviet Union. The duel between the CIA and the KGB, portrayed in countless books, films, and news stories, captured the public imagination.
Espionage became a kind of entertainment, in no small measure due to the fictional exploits of James Bond, first popularized when President John F. Kennedy let it be known that he enjoyed Ian Fleming's stories. John le Carré's George Smiley provided a more authentic, if less glamorous, rendering of the spy wars.
Fiction masked the cold reality. In the actual conflict, spies and their agents died. Lives were shattered. The CIA plotted to overthrow governments and assassinate political leaders. The KGB's supermoles, Aldrich Ames in the CIA and Robert Hanssen in the FBI, stole US secrets by the trunkful and betrayed agents working for US intelligence, many of whom were executed.
As the East-West intelligence battles played out in the cafés of Vienna, in divided Berlin, and in back alleys across the globe, scant attention was paid to the espionage operations of a rising global power—China—and the limited efforts of US counterintelligence, not always successful, to block Beijing's attempts to acquire America's secrets. Inside the FBI, Soviet spies were regarded as the principal quarry; Chinese counterintelligence was relegated to a back seat. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Russia's spies continued to target the United States, as was demonstrated by the arrest in 2010 of ten "illegals" sent by Moscow to pose as Americans and gather intelligence in the United States. The KGB's espionage arm simply became the SVR (Sluzhba Vneshnei Razvedki), and US counterintelligence efforts against Moscow continued much as before.
Yet China has in many ways become America's chief rival. And China has spied on America for decades, with some spectacular results, little known outside intelligence circles. At the same time, the end of the Cold War enabled the FBI to rethink its counterintelligence priorities. The bureau shift ed its focus to China, to the espionage war with the MSS, the Ministry of State Security—China's foreign spy agency—and the intelligence branch of the PLA, the People's Liberation Army. This book offers a history of China's spying within the United States, focusing chiefly on recent decades, but also looking at some earlier episodes from the post-World War II era. It is a story of interlocking agents and cases, centered around the two particularly dramatic stories of PARLOR MAID and TIGER TRAP. It is a history largely undisclosed, and yet no less significant than the parallel story of Soviet and Russian penetrations. There have been no major films, no best-selling thrillers, and relatively little press coverage about Chinese espionage. Yet the drama, and the stakes, are just as high.
America and China are locked in an uneasy embrace. China needs the United States to buy its exports, and American companies long to expand their sales in the huge Chinese market. Washington looks to China for help in dealing with intractable foreign policy issues, such as the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and Iran.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from TIGER TRAPby David Wise Copyright © 2011 by David Wise. Excerpted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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