Killing C.I.A. Informants, China Crippled U.S. Spying Operations

By MARK MAZZETTI, ADAM GOLDMAN, MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT and MATT APUZZO May 22, 2017

 中國處死或監禁多名CIA線人，美國在華諜網被毀

MARK MAZZETTI, ADAM GOLDMAN, MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT, MATT APUZZO   2017年5月22日

WASHINGTON — The Chinese government systematically dismantled C.I.A. spying operations in the country starting in 2010, killing or imprisoning more than a dozen sources over two years and crippling intelligence gathering there for years afterward.

華盛頓——從2010年起，中國政府系統性地搗毀了美國中央情報局(CIA)在中國的間諜行動，在兩年的時間裡殺死或監禁了十幾個線人，讓之後多年的情報收集工作處於癱瘓狀態。

Current and former American officials described the intelligence breach as one of the worst in decades. It set off a scramble in Washington’s intelligence and law enforcement agencies to contain the fallout, but investigators were bitterly divided over the cause. Some were convinced that a mole within the C.I.A. had betrayed the United States. Others believed that the Chinese had hacked the covert system the C.I.A. used to communicate with its foreign sources. Years later, that debate remains unresolved.

美國的現任和前任官員把情報員的損失描述為數十年來最糟糕的一次。損失引起華盛頓的情報和執法部門採取緊急措施，防止影響蔓延，但調查人員對情報網造破壞的原因持極為不同的看法。有些人堅信，中情局內有出賣美國的內奸。其他人則認為，中國人侵入了中情局用來與其外國線人聯絡的秘密系統。問題發生多年後，辯論仍懸而未決。

But there was no disagreement about the damage. From the final weeks of 2010 through the end of 2012, according to former American officials, the Chinese killed at least a dozen of the C.I.A.’s sources. According to three of the officials, one was shot in front of his colleagues in the courtyard of a government building — a message to others who might have been working for the C.I.A.

但是，人們對破壞所造成的損失沒有任何意見分歧。據美國前官員說，從2010年的最後幾周起，到2012年底止，中國殺死了至少十幾個中情局的線人。據三位前官員的說法，其中一人是在政府大樓院子裡他的同事眼前被擊斃的——這是給其他那些可能為CIA工作的人發出的信息。

Wang Zhao/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

上個月，北京人民大會堂外的衛兵。2010年至2012年期間，中國政府殺死或監禁了18-20名中情局線人。

Still others were put in jail. All told, the Chinese killed or imprisoned 18 to 20 of the C.I.A.’s sources in China, according to two former senior American officials, effectively unraveling a network that had taken years to build.

還有些人被關進了監獄。據兩名前美國高級官員說，總的來說，中國政府殺死或監禁了CIA在中國的線人中18至20人，有效地搗毀了中情局花多年時間建立起來的網絡。

Assessing the fallout from an exposed spy operation can be difficult, but the episode was considered particularly damaging. The number of American assets lost in China, officials said, rivaled those lost in the Soviet Union and Russia during the betrayals of both Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen, formerly of the C.I.A. and the F.B.I., who divulged intelligence operations to Moscow for years.

雖然可能很難評估間諜活動被暴露所帶來的影響，但這次事件造成的損失被認為特別嚴重。官員說，美國這次在中國損失的有用者的人數，與前中情局特工奧爾德里奇·艾姆斯(Aldrich Ames)和前聯邦調查局(FBI)特工羅伯特·漢森(Robert Hanssen)向莫斯科出賣情報多年，在蘇聯和俄羅斯所造成的損失不相上下。

The previously unreported episode shows how successful the Chinese were in disrupting American spying efforts and stealing secrets years before a well-publicized breach in 2015 gave Beijing access to thousands of government personnel records, including intelligence contractors. The C.I.A. considers spying in China one of its top priorities, but the country’s extensive security apparatus makes it exceptionally hard for Western spy services to develop sources there.

這個以前未曾報道過的事件顯示，在2015年廣為人知的破壞行動讓北京獲得了包括情報承包商在內的成千上萬的政府人事檔案之前，中國在擾亂美國的間諜活動、以及竊取美國秘密方面有多麼成功。中情局認為，在中國搜集情報是其首要任務之一，但中國巨大的安全機構讓西方間諜部門在其境內發展線人非常困難。

At a time when the C.I.A. is trying to figure out how some of its most sensitive documents were leaked onto the internet two months ago by WikiLeaks, and the F.B.I. investigates possible ties between President Trump’s campaign and Russia, the unsettled nature of the China investigation demonstrates the difficulty of conducting counterespionage investigations into sophisticated spy services like those in Russia and China.

中情局正在試圖搞清楚，兩個月前，其最敏感的文件是怎樣通過維基解密(WikiLeaks)泄漏到互聯網上去的，FBI也在調查特朗普總統的競選活動與俄羅斯之間的可能聯繫，在這個時刻，對中國情報網遭破壞的調查尚無結果的事實，表明了對像俄羅斯和中國這樣的老練情報部門進行反間諜調查的難度之大。

The C.I.A. and the F.B.I. both declined to comment.

中情局和聯邦調查局都拒絕發表評論。

Details about the investigation have been tightly held. Ten current and former American officials described the investigation on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to be identified discussing the information.

上述調查的細節一直處於嚴格控制之下。十名美國的現任和前任官員描述了有關調查，但他們要求匿名，因為他們不想在討論這些信息時透露身份。

The first signs of trouble emerged in 2010. At the time, the quality of the C.I.A.’s information about the inner workings of the Chinese government was the best it had been for years, the result of recruiting sources deep inside the bureaucracy in Beijing, four former officials said. Some were Chinese nationals who the C.I.A. believed had become disillusioned with the Chinese government’s corruption.

發生麻煩的第一個跡象出現在2010年。當時，中情局掌握的有關中國政府內部運作情況的信息質量是多年來最好的，四名前官員說，那是CIA在北京官僚機構的縱深發展線人的結果。其中一些人是中國公民，CIA認為他們已對中國政府的腐敗感到失望。

But by the end of the year, the flow of information began to dry up. By early 2011, senior agency officers realized they had a problem: Assets in China, one of their most precious resources, were disappearing.

但到年底時，信息的來源開始枯竭。到了2011年初，中情局高級官員們意識到，他們遇到了問題：他們最寶貴的資源之一，也就是他們在中國的有價值人員，正在消失。

The F.B.I. and the C.I.A. opened a joint investigation run by top counterintelligence officials at both agencies. Working out of a secret office in Northern Virginia, they began analyzing every operation being run in Beijing. One former senior American official said the investigation had been code-named Honey Badger.

聯邦調查和中情局對此展開了聯合調查，調查由兩家機構的最高反間諜官員領導。調查工作在弗吉尼亞州北部的一個秘密辦公室進行，有關人員開始分析在北京的每項行動。一位美國前高級官員說，聯合調查曾用過Honey Badger的代號。

As more and more sources vanished, the operation took on increased urgency. Nearly every employee at the American Embassy was scrutinized, no matter how high ranking. Some investigators believed the Chinese had cracked the encrypted method that the C.I.A. used to communicate with its assets. Others suspected a traitor in the C.I.A., a theory that agency officials were at first reluctant to embrace — and that some in both agencies still do not believe.

隨着越來越多的線人消失，調查也變得越來越緊迫。美國大使館的幾乎每名員工，不管他們的位置有多高，都受到了仔細審查。一些調查人員認為，中國人破解了中情局用來與其線人進行溝通的方法。其他人則懷疑CIA內部出了叛徒，中情局官員最初不願意接受這個理論，CIA和FBI的一些人至今仍不相信該理論。

Their debates were punctuated with macabre phone calls — “We lost another one” — and urgent questions from the Obama administration wondering why intelligence about the Chinese had slowed.

他們的辯論被“我們又失去了一個”的可怕電話、以及奧巴馬政府對為什麼有關中國的情報越來越少的緊急詢問一次又一次地打斷。

The mole hunt eventually zeroed in on a former agency operative who had worked in the C.I.A.’s division overseeing China, believing he was most likely responsible for the crippling disclosures. But efforts to gather enough evidence to arrest him failed, and he is now living in another Asian country, current and former officials said.

抓內奸的工作最終鎖定了一名曾經在CIA分管中國的部門工作的前特工人員，他被認為是泄露造成嚴重損害信息的最有可能的責任人。但現任和前任官員說，收集逮捕他的足夠證據的努力失敗了，他目前住在亞洲另一個國家。

There was good reason to suspect an insider, some former officials say. Around that time, Chinese spies compromised National Security Agency surveillance in Taiwan — an island Beijing claims is part of China — by infiltrating Taiwanese intelligence, an American partner, according to two former officials. And the C.I.A. had discovered Chinese operatives in the agency’s hiring pipeline, according to officials and court documents.

幾名前任官員說，有很好的理由懷疑出了內奸。據兩位前官員說，就在發生問題的前後，大陸間諜通過滲透美國的夥伴台灣情報部門，讓美國國家安全局(National Security Agency)在台灣的監聽監視工作陷入危險，北京認為台灣是中國的一部分。而且，據官員的說法和法庭文件，中情局也在其應招人員中發現了為中國工作的人。

But the C.I.A.’s top spy hunter, Mark Kelton, resisted the mole theory, at least initially, former officials say. Mr. Kelton had been close friends with Brian J. Kelley, a C.I.A. officer who in the 1990s was wrongly suspected by the F.B.I. of being a Russian spy. The real traitor, it turned out, was Mr. Hanssen. Mr. Kelton often mentioned Mr. Kelley’s mistreatment in meetings during the China episode, former colleagues say, and said he would not accuse someone without ironclad evidence.

前官員說，但是，在中情局負責抓間諜的馬克·凱爾頓(Mark Kelton)不接受內奸理論，至少最初是那樣。凱爾頓曾與布萊恩·J·凱利(Brian J. Kelley)是親密的朋友，20世紀90年代，FBI曾錯誤地懷疑凱利是俄羅斯間諜。事實證明，真正的叛變者是漢森。凱爾頓以前的同事說，凱爾頓經常在調查中國事件的會上提到凱利遭受的不公正對待，並表示，在沒有確鑿證據之前，他不會對別人提出指控。

Those who rejected the mole theory attributed the losses to sloppy American tradecraft at a time when the Chinese were becoming better at monitoring American espionage activities in the country. Some F.B.I. agents became convinced that C.I.A. handlers in Beijing too often traveled the same routes to the same meeting points, which would have helped China’s vast surveillance network identify the spies in its midst.

那些拒絕內奸理論者把線人的損失歸咎於美國人對情報工作掉以輕心，而與此同時，中國對美國在其境內間諜活動的監控正變得越來越好。一些FBI特工讓證據說服，認為CIA在北京負責與間諜聯絡的人，過於經常地使用同一路線、在同一地點與線人接頭，這會幫助中國龐大的監視網絡在人群中確定間諜的身份。

Some officers met their sources at a restaurant where Chinese agents had planted listening devices, former officials said, and even the waiters worked for Chinese intelligence.

前官員說，CIA的有些情報官在中國特工已經安裝了竊聽器的餐館與線人接頭，在那些餐館裡，甚至有些服務員也為中國情報部門工作。

This carelessness, coupled with the possibility that the Chinese had hacked the covert communications channel, would explain many, if not all, of the disappearances and deaths, some former officials said. Some in the agency, particularly those who had helped build the spy network, resisted this theory and believed they had been caught in the middle of a turf war within the C.I.A.

一些前官員說，這種粗心大意，加上中國人破獲了秘密通信渠道的可能性，能解釋許多（如果不是全部）失蹤和死亡線人的情況。中情局有些人、特別是那些幫助把間諜網建立起來的人，不接受這個理論，他們認為被夾在了中情局內部勢力範圍爭奪戰之中。

Still, the Chinese picked off more and more of the agency’s spies, continuing through 2011 and into 2012. As investigators narrowed the list of suspects with access to the information, they started focusing on a Chinese-American who had left the C.I.A. shortly before the intelligence losses began. Some investigators believed he had become disgruntled and had begun spying for China. One official said the man had access to the identities of C.I.A. informants and fit all the indicators on a matrix used to identify espionage threats.

儘管如此，被中國人打掉的中情局間諜越來越多，中方的行動一直持續到2011年和2012年。隨着調查人員縮小了接觸過相關信息的嫌疑人名單，他們開始把注意力集中到一名在情報工作遭破壞前不久離開了中情局的美籍華人。一些調查人員認為，該人因某種原因對CIA不滿，並開始為中國充當間諜。一名官員說，該男子能接觸為CIA提供消息者的身份信息，而且，他與用來確定間諜威脅模型中的所有標誌相符。

After leaving the C.I.A., the man decided to remain in Asia with his family and pursue a business opportunity, which some officials suspect that Chinese intelligence agents had arranged.

這名男子離開中情局後，為了一個商業機會，決定與家人一起留在亞洲，有些官員懷疑，中國情報人員為他安排了那個機會。

Officials said the F.B.I. and the C.I.A. lured the man back to the United States around 2012 with a ruse about a possible contract with the agency, an arrangement common among former officers. Agents questioned the man, asking why he had decided to stay in Asia, concerned that he possessed a number of secrets that would be valuable to the Chinese. It’s not clear whether agents confronted the man about whether he had spied for China.

官員說，FBI和CIA曾在2012年前後，用與中情局簽訂一項可能合同（這在前中情局官員中很常見）的藉口，將這名男子誘回美國。特工對他進行了詢問，問他為什麼決定留在亞洲，並對他擁有一些對中國人有價值的秘密表示了擔憂。目前尚不清楚，特工是否直接向他提出他是否曾為中國當間諜的問題。

The man defended his reasons for living in Asia and did not admit any wrongdoing, an official said. He then returned to Asia.

一名官員說，該男子為自己留在亞洲的原因做了辯解，不承認有任何不法行為。那之後，他返回了亞洲。

By 2013, the F.B.I. and the C.I.A. concluded that China’s success in identifying C.I.A. agents had been blunted — it is not clear how — but the damage had been done.

到2013年時，FBI和CIA都做出結論，認為中國成功識別中情局特工的能力已經減弱——雖然目前不清楚原因，但所造成的損失已無法挽回。

The C.I.A. has tried to rebuild its network of spies in China, officials said, an expensive and time-consuming effort led at one time by the former chief of the East Asia Division. A former intelligence official said the former chief was particularly bitter because he had worked with the suspected mole and recruited some of the spies in China who were ultimately executed.

官員說，中情局一直在試圖重建其在中國的間諜網，這項費錢費時的工作一度曾由中情局東亞處的一位前主管領導。一名前情報官員說，該前主管曾非常不快，因為他曾與那名被懷疑為內奸的人一起工作，而且那些後來最終被中國處決的間諜中，有些也是該前主管發展的。

China has been particularly aggressive in its espionage in recent years, beyond the breach of the Office of Personnel Management records in 2015, American officials said. Last year, an F.B.I. employee pleaded guilty to acting as a Chinese agent for years, passing sensitive technology information to Beijing in exchange for cash, lavish hotel rooms during foreign travel and prostitutes.

美國官員說，中國近年來的間諜活動特別具有攻擊性，不僅是2015年侵入美國政府人事管理辦公室(Office of Personnel Management)系統的問題。去年，一名FBI雇員承認有罪，他曾為中國充當特工，向北京提供了敏感技術信息，以換取金錢，以及在外國旅行期間住豪華酒店房間和招妓女的待遇。

In March, prosecutors announced the arrest of a longtime State Department employee, Candace Marie Claiborne, accused of lying to investigators about her contacts with Chinese officials. According to the criminal complaint against Ms. Claiborne, who pleaded not guilty, Chinese agents wired cash into her bank account and showered her with gifts that included an iPhone, a laptop and tuition at a Chinese fashion school. In addition, according to the complaint, she received a fully furnished apartment and a stipend.

今年3月，檢察機關宣布逮捕了曾在美國國務院長期工作的坎迪斯·瑪麗·克萊本(Candace Marie Claiborne)，她被指控在對她與中國官員接觸的調查中，向調查人員撒謊。據對克萊本的刑事控告書，中國特工曾把現金匯入她的銀行賬戶，並向她贈送了包括iPhone、筆記本電腦和一家中國時裝學校學費在內的禮品，她不承認有罪。另據控告書說，她還得到了一套家具齊全的公寓和一份津貼。

Copyright © 2017 The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.        翻譯：Cindy Hao

China crippled CIA by killing US sources, says New York Times

• 21 May 2017

• 

Image copyrightAFPImage captionChinese police guard the US embassy in the capital, Beijing

Up to 20 CIA informants were killed or imprisoned by the Chinese government between 2010 and 2012, the New York Times reports, damaging US information-gathering in the country for years.

It is not clear whether the CIA was hacked or whether a mole helped the Chinese to identify the agents, officials told the paper.

They said one of the informants was shot in the courtyard of a government building as a warning to others.

The CIA did not comment on the report.

Four former CIA officials spoke to the paper, telling it that information from sources deep inside the Chinese government bureaucracy started to dry up in 2010. Informants began to disappear in early 2011.

The CIA and FBI teamed up to investigate the events in an operation one source said was codenamed Honey Badger.

Beijing offers hefty cash reward for tip-offs on foreign spies

China warns of "dangerous love" with spies

CIA operations could be disrupted by new Wikileaks release

The paper said this investigation had centred on one former CIA operative but there was not enough evidence to arrest him. He now lives in another Asian country.

In 2012, an official at China's security ministry was arrested on suspicion of spying for the US. He was said to have been lured into the CIA. No other such arrests appear to have reached public attention during that time.

Obama questioned slow intelligence

Matt Apuzzo, a New York Times journalist who worked on the story, told the BBC: "One of the really troubling things about this is that we still don't know what happened.

"There's a divide within the American government over whether there was a mole inside the CIA or whether this was a tradecraft problem, that the CIA agents got sloppy and got discovered, or whether the Chinese managed to hack communications."

A few years later in 2015, the CIA pulled staff out of the US embassy in Beijing, after a hack blamed on the Chinese state exposed information about millions of US federal employees. If the events of 2010-2012 were helped by a similar hack, it was not one that was made public.

The disappearance of so many spies damaged a network it had taken years to build up, the New York Times reports, and hampered operations for years afterwards, even prompting questions from within the Obama administration as to why intelligence had slowed.

Officials said it was one of the worst security breaches of recent years.

By 2013, the Chinese government seemed to have lost its ability to identify US agents and the CIA moved back to trying to rebuild its network.

Media captionLast year, China warned government officials to watch out for spies - and not fall in love with them

Mr Apuzzo continued: "For many years China and the US have been locked in this spy battle that's been going on behind the scenes. While doing this story we uncovered that Chinese intelligence have been able to infiltrate an NSA outpost in Taiwan. It goes back and forth."

The story was published during a temporary vacuum at the top of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The Trump administration has named Terry Branstad, who is the governor of Iowa, as its ambassador to China but he has not yet moved to Beijing.

Cui Tiankai, China's ambassador to the US, has not commented, but in a recent press release, he mentioned "the current positive momentum that the China-US relationship enjoys".

       國安副部長秘書李輝間諜案內幕 

                                                2015-05-20

近日，有海外中文雜誌引述消息來源稱，中共十八大後以高票連任國安部長的耿惠昌，因〝並未完全與週案切割〞，再加上近年來國安內部人員中爆出的間諜案對國安部造成的打擊，耿惠昌前途堪憂。該報導並透露了反間諜人員在高層宴會上當場抓人等內幕。

國安部上演〝無間道〞 抓間諜內幕被曝光

據海外中文雜誌《內幕》報導，有來自北京的可靠消息稱，由於未能完全與前中共中央政法委書記周永康切割，加上國安部曝出的近20年來最大間諜案醜聞等原因，耿惠昌已變成一個〝必須被取代的人物〞

報導表示，反間諜人員因其長期與間諜打交道，自己更是對方間諜機構的重點關注對象，因此最有可能自己也變成間諜。國安部副部長陸忠偉的秘書李輝涉就是最典型的一個實例。而李輝成為給美國中央情報局提供國家機密的間諜過程，〝猶如電影《無間道》〞一般，足以令人大吃一驚。

報導引述來自北京國安部門的消息來源透露，李輝其實最早是由加拿大皇家騎警發展成重要線人，然後皇家騎警又把他送給了美國聯邦調查局（FBI），接著FBI又把他送給了美國中央情報局，最後CIA把他變成了間諜。

據披露，由於李輝的洩密，中方派遣到美國的間諜人員相繼出事。於是，中方開始調查內部間諜，並發現了有一個與美國經常聯繫的信號，只是一直搞不明白這個信號是從哪裡發出去的，這個間諜的方位一直無法確定。

據知情人士透露，在2012年元旦期間，中國反間諜人員突然走進國安部的副部長、部長助理等高官聚餐的一個宴會會場，令在場的人大吃一驚。

原來，是當天晚宴期間，李輝用手機向美方發出信號後，匆忙之中忘了退出方位鎖定係統。這給了反間諜人員確定這個異常信號的機會。反間諜人員立即開始行動，並順藤摸瓜在國安部高官們的元旦宴會上，當場抓獲李輝。

據披露，李輝被抓後，他的老闆、國安部副部長陸忠偉以身體健康為藉口，提前從國安部退休了。

中共國安部20年來的最大間諜案

2012年5月，多家外媒報導了中共國安部副部長陸忠偉的秘書涉嫌向美國提供的情報，使中共在美的間諜網元氣大傷的報導。 《紐約時報》稱，那位〝國安部某副部長的秘書〞是中了美國中央情報局的〝美人計〞而被招募為間諜。

路透社則引述兩位直接了解此案的匿名消息來源透露說，向美國提供的情報的是中共國安部副部長陸忠偉的秘書李輝。這個間諜案讓時任中共國家主席的胡鍧�〝大為争懎〞，親自下令必須徹查。

據稱，李輝傳給美國的情報涵蓋〝政治、經濟和戰略核武部署位置領域〞，但消息人士拒絕說明這些情報中共特工造成的傷害。

路透社還稱，從2011年開始，中共派到美國的特工多次被識破，引起國安部的警覺，2012年1月至3月間，洩密的這名秘書被逮捕。國安部的內部調查發現，他已為中情局工作多年，提供中共海外間諜網的情報，引發中共20年來最大的情報醜聞。

消息人士還說，儘管爆出間諜案，但當局經過調查後認定陸忠偉本人並沒有為美國情報機構工作，他只是在選用助理之前沒有對他進行足夠的調查。時年59歲的陸忠偉即將面臨退休。

　　明鏡網引知情者指，被美國策反的國安部秘書的上司，是去年才任命的國安部副部長陸忠偉。2012年59歲的陸忠偉是上海人，學者出身，是日本問題專家，畢業於黑龍江大學外語系日語專業，加入國安部後長期以學者名義在中國現代國際關係研究院任職，官至院長。

　　陸忠偉以國家安全部副部長頭銜在內地媒體公開報道，是於去年8月他陪同中共政治局委員、政法委副書記王樂泉出訪太平洋島國巴哈馬。陸是全國政協委員，2009年在全國兩會建議關注中國糧食安全問題。他還是博士生導師。消息指，由於陸的秘書出問題，累及他曾任職的中國現代國際關係研究院要被當局調查，有關人員暫時停止出境參加各種活動。

2011年，中國現代國際關係研究院院長陸忠偉，升任國安部副部長，這個研究院是國安部的下屬單位，

現任國安部長耿惠昌也曾擔任院長一職。陸當年已經59歲，即將退休，他萬萬沒想到自己的貼身秘書

竟然是美方間諜，導致大量情報源源不斷地被送往美國。

  蛇   Starring Yul Brynner  法國  1973年4月5日公映  124 min.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NgFDYN4-tk