China's Spying Overwhelms U.S. Counterintelligence (Jeff Bliss)

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China has systematically gained sensitive information on U.S. nuclear bombs and ship and missile designs, current and former U.S. officials say.

By Jeff Bliss

April 2 (Bloomberg) -- In a Santa Ana, California, courtroom, 66-year-old engineer Chi Mak listens to federal prosecutors describe how he and his family stole secrets from his employer, L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. The alleged target: data about Navy submarine engines that run silently to avoid detection.

U.S. intelligence officials say the Mak case is unusual -- not in the nature of the charges brought against him, but that charges were brought at all.

For every person caught and accused of passing U.S. military and trade secrets to China, they say, scores of others go undetected. Taking advantage of an outmanned counterintelligence effort drained and distracted by the wars in Iraq and against al-Qaeda, current and former officials say, China has systematically managed to gain sensitive information on U.S. nuclear bombs and ship and missile designs.

``Iraq and the struggle with terrorism are sucking resources across the board,'' says Joel Brenner, the top counterintelligence official in the office of Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell. Meanwhile, ``the Chinese are really making a run at us.''

Adds Keith Riggin, a former senior official at the Central Intelligence Agency who focused on China issues: ``If the American people knew the number of officers going against the Chinese, they would be appalled.'' He says his frustration with the lack of resources was one reason he ended a 24-year career in 2006.