More Chinese Aggression

This video is in Chinese with English sub-titles

Google reveals China hacked Gmail accounts of senior U.S. officials... one day after Obama's cyber attack warning

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

• Last updated at 7:18 AM on 2nd June 2011

Security breach larger than previous Gmail attacks


Google said U.S. government officials targeted
Pentagon warn U.S. may retaliate with military force

• Hackers also target military contractor that supplies unmanned aerial vehicles

The search giant said it had traced a so-called "spear phishing" bid to Jinan, China. The coordinated attacks involved tailored emails being sent to hundreds of individuals. Appearing to come from a person known to the victim, each email led to a fake Google gmail log in page where users would normally enter their password.
In a blog post, Google said that "The goal of this effort seems to have been to monitor the contents of these users' emails, with the perpetrators apparently using stolen passwords to change peoples'forwarding and delegation settings. Google detected and has disrupted this campaign to take users' passwords and monitor their emails. We have notified victims and secured their accounts. In addition, we have notified relevant government authorities."

The attack targeted individuals rather than Google's own systems. Its aim was to fool people into voluntarily handing over their login details. A Google spokesman said that while the company could determine where the attacks apparently came from, "we can't say for sure who is responsible. Our focus now is on protecting our users and making sure everyone knows how to stay safe online."

It is not known whether other email providers have been targeted in similar attacks. In January last year, however, Google said that it had uncovered a concerted bid to undermine both its own systems and those of other providers such as Yahoo. At the time, the company said that it was the victim of "a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google".

Google has recently introduced improved security features, including "two-step authentication, where users are asked to enter both a pin generated by their mobile phone and a password to access their emails.

Sick of the Chinese Yet? These People Are Not Our Friends...

Here the Chinese Communists at it One Year Ago

Report: Chinese company 'hijacked' U.S. web traffic
From Dugald McConnell, CNN


November 18, 2010 3:19 a.m. EST

Washingtom (CNN) -- Internet traffic from several U.S. government agency sites was briefly diverted through servers in China in April, congressional investigators reported Wednesday.

For 18 minutes, about 15 percent of all web traffic was redirected through China, including traffic to and from the sites of the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, the office of the Secretary of Defense, the Senate and NASA, according to a report delivered to Congress by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

Investigators say the web traffic was diverted by China Telecom, a state-owned enterprise.

They do not know whether the diversion was intentional, whether the government of China played any role, or whether any sensitive data was compromised.

The report says that the irregular routing could have allowed the surveillance of users or sites, the disruption or diversion of communications and the compromising of supposedly secure encrypted sessions.
Cyber warfare, corporate espionage

Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Col. April Cunningham said the Defense Department "is concerned about any Internet traffic being intentionally rerouted outside of the usual operations." But, she said, "the security of Department of Defense information is not affected by misdirection of internet traffic." The Pentagon had no information to confirm whether the incident occurred, she said.

The Pentagon is in the process of establishing procedures "to address any potential current and future vulnerability," Cunningham told CNN.

Larry Wortzel, a member of the commission, said that given access to a stream of military traffic for 18 minutes, it might be possible "with really good computers" to get "a little information."

But another risk, he said, was that it could create an opening for spyware infiltration. "If you were a pretty knowledgeable intelligence service, you would get the internet addresses of everybody that communicated. And then you could essentially engineer a fake e-mail," he said, "and if someone opened an attachment, you would then insert a virus into the whole system."

The report alleges that the diversion was caused when China Telecom briefly offered a false electronic notification to internet traffic on the web, causing some traffic to mistakenly conclude that the quickest way to reach its destination was to travel through the company's servers in China.

A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington rejected the claim.

"The commission's specious and unwarranted allegations against China and its enterprises are irresponsible," said Wang Baodong. "China will never do anything to harm other countries' national security, either in real or virtual worlds."

He also pointed out that China Telecom, in a statement to Reuters, has denied any hijacking of internet traffic.

Why are we so stupid?

People are different. Cultures are different. Some are your friends that you can trust and others are not.

None of these points should be a revelation to any human being at any time in history, except for the intellectual nitwits that have occupied the US politburo of opinion-makers for the past forty years. They cost us big time and will be doing so for a long, long time to come.

We will be poorer and less safe because of them. Our experiment with the Communist Chinese has been a particular disaster:

..."The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, appointed by Congress to study the national security issues arising from America’s economic relationship with China, said in a report last year that even in instances without direct involvement by Chinese officials, China’s government “has been a major beneficiary of technology acquired through industrial espionage.”...

Now I admit to being a longtime cold warrior, trained and practiced in monitoring the Russians and Chinese, learning about who they are and what they are and till this day despise them. I have never understood the concept of dealing with our enemies in ways that gave them favored positions over our natural friends and allies, but nothing has perplexed me more than our relationship with China.

This has been going on for a long time, under a lot of administrations.

It is late, very very late but not past the time when we need to face the reality of our folly.

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U.S. Companies Are at Risk of Spying by Their Own Workers
By CHRISTOPHER DREW
NY Times
Published: October 17, 2010

Huang Kexue, federal authorities say, is a new kind of spy.

For five years, Mr. Huang was a scientist at a Dow Chemical lab in Indiana, studying ways to improve insecticides. But before he was fired in 2008, Mr. Huang began sharing Dow’s secrets with Chinese researchers, authorities say, then obtained grants from a state-run foundation in China with the goal of starting a rival business there.

Now, Mr. Huang, who was born in China and is a legal United States resident, faces a rare criminal charge — that he engaged in economic espionage on China’s behalf.

Law enforcement officials say the kind of spying Mr. Huang is accused of represents a new front in the battle for a global economic edge. As China and other countries broaden their efforts to obtain Western technology, American industries beyond the traditional military and high-tech targets risk having valuable secrets exposed by their own employees, court records show.

Rather than relying on dead drops and secret directions from government handlers, the new trade in business secrets seems much more opportunistic, federal prosecutors say, and occurs in loose, underground markets throughout the world.

Prosecutors say it is difficult to prove links to a foreign government, but intelligence officials say China, Russia and Iran are among the countries pushing hardest to obtain the latest technologies.

Read On

US Vulnerability to Chinese Espionage and Militarization of Space

China's hackers stealing US defence secrets, says congressional panel
Owen Bowcott
guardian.co.uk, Thursday November 20 2008 12.53 GMT

China is stealing sensitive information from American computer networks and stepping up its online espionage, according to a US congressional panel.

Beijing's investment in rocket technology is also accelerating the militarisation of outer space and transforming it into the "commanding heights" of modern warfare, the advisory group claims. The strident warning, which may have a chilling effect on relations between the two Pacific powers, comes in the annual report of the US-China economic and security review commission due today.

A summary of the study, released in advance, alleges that networks and databases used by the US government and American defence contractors are regularly targeted by Chinese hackers. "China is stealing vast amounts of sensitive information from US computer networks," says Larry Wortzel, chairman of the commission set up by Congress in 2000 to investigate US-China issues.

The commission, consisting of six Democrats and six Republicans, says in its unanimous report that China's military modernisation and its "impressive but disturbing" space and computer warfare capabilities "suggest China is intent on expanding its sphere of control even at the expense of its Asian neighbors and the United States."

The commission recommends that the US upgrades its intelligence and homeland security systems which protect computer networks. It quotes the Chinese military strategist, Wang Huacheng, as describing US dependence on space assets and information technology as its "soft ribs".

China's space programme is "steadily increasing the vulnerability of US assets," the report says. Technical improvements in satellite imagery enables China to locate US aircraft carrier battle groups more accurately, faster and from farther away.

The People's Liberation Army officer and author Cai Fengzhen is quoted as saying that the "area above ground, airspace and outer space are inseparable and integrated. They are the strategic commanding height of modern informationalised warfare." "If this becomes Chinese policy," the report adds, "it could set the stage for conflict with the United States and other nations that expect the right of passage for their spacecraft."

Relations between China and the United States are businesslike and have not been under severe strain recently. During the presidential election campaign, Barack Obama said: "China is rising, and it's not going away," adding that Beijing was "neither our enemy nor our friend; they're competitors."

Allegations that Chinese hackers penetrate US defence computers have been made before, including reports of attacks on the Pentagon supposedly backed by the People's Liberation Army. US intelligence gave the assaults the codename "Titan Rain". In Britain last year Chinese cyberwarriors were said to have hacked into networks used by the Foreign Office, the House of Commons and other Whitehall departments.

China has said before that it is not trying to undermine other countries' interests and wishes to maintain good relations with the United States.

The Perfect Espionage Storm. China Is Killing US.

This is just the beginning and it has done more damage to US security than 911. China is a dangerous adversary and with our open trade policy with China, it is pay as we go. We are paying for their military expansion and espionage. This is a calamity far worse than anything we have done and wasted in Iraq and will have far greater long term consequences to US security.

- Hat tip: Bobal

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A US Department of Defense official pleaded guilty [DOJ press release] Monday in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia [official website] to one count of conspiracy for disclosing national defense information. Gregg William Bergersen, an analyst at the DOD's Defense Security Cooperation Agency [official website], who was charged and arrested [JURIST report] in February, is accused of providing classified military information to Tai Kuo, a Louisiana businessman, who in turn gave the information to a Chinese foreign official. A sentencing hearing has been set for June; Bergersen could face up to 10 years in prison.

The same day that Bergersen was arrested, officials also arrested Dongfan "Greg" Chung, a former Chinese-American engineer at Boeing, for allegedly stealing corporate trade secrets related to the space shuttle and other aerospace programs and turning them over to China . Chung's arrest was reportedly related to the case of Chi Mak , a Chinese-American engineer sentenced last month for conspiring to smuggle sensitive naval intelligence data to China.

- Jurist

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Chinese Spy 'Slept' In U.S. for 2 Decades
Espionage Network Said to Be Growing
By Joby Warrick and Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, April 3, 2008; A01

Prosecutors called Chi Mak the "perfect sleeper agent," though he hardly looked the part. For two decades, the bespectacled Chinese-born engineer lived quietly with his wife in a Los Angeles suburb, buying a house and holding a steady job with a U.S. defense contractor, which rewarded him with promotions and a security clearance. Colleagues remembered him as a hard worker who often took paperwork home at night.

Eventually, Mak's job gave him access to sensitive plans for Navy ships, submarines and weapons. These he secretly copied and sent via courier to China -- fulfilling a mission that U.S. officials say he had been planning since the 1970s.

Mak was sentenced last week to 24 1/2 years in prison by a federal judge who described the lengthy term as a warning to China not to "send agents here to steal America's military secrets." But it may already be too late: According to U.S. intelligence and Justice Department officials, the Mak case represents only a small facet of an intelligence-gathering operation that has long been in place and is growing in size and sophistication.

The Chinese government, in an enterprise that one senior official likened to an "intellectual vacuum cleaner," has deployed a diverse network of professional spies, students, scientists and others to systematically collect U.S. know-how, the officials said. Some are trained in modern electronic techniques for snooping on wireless computer transactions. Others, such as Mak, are technical experts who have been in place for years and have blended into their communities.

"Chi Mak acknowledged that he had been placed in the United States more than 20 years earlier, in order to burrow into the defense-industrial establishment to steal secrets," Joel Brenner, the head of counterintelligence for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said in an interview. "It speaks of deep patience," he said, and is part of a pattern.

Other recent prosecutions illustrate the scale of the problem. Mak, whose sentence capped an 18-month criminal probe, was the second U.S. citizen in the past two weeks to stand before a federal judge after being found guilty on espionage-related charges.

On Monday, former Defense Department analyst Gregg W. Bergersen pleaded guilty in Alexandria to charges that he gave classified information on U.S. weapons sales to a businessman who shared the data with a Chinese official.

In March, the Reston company WaveLab pleaded guilty to violating export laws when it shipped militarily sensitive power amplifiers to China, according to court papers. A lawyer for the company said it neglected to get proper licenses and did not engage in "underhanded" behavior.

Dongfan Chung, a Boeing engineer arrested in February for allegedly passing classified space shuttle and rocket documents to Chinese officials, was accused in court documents of responding to orders from Beijing as long ago as 1979 -- making him a second alleged longtime agent.

Yesterday, federal prosecutors in Chicago indicted a software engineer for allegedly stealing business trade secrets and trying to take more than 1,000 paper and electronic documents from a telecommunications company on a one-way trip to China last year.

The cases are among at least a dozen investigations of Chinese espionage that have yielded criminal charges or guilty pleas in the past year. Since 2000, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have launched more than 540 investigations of illegal technology exports to China.

The FBI recently heightened its counterintelligence operations against Chinese activities in the United States after Director Robert S. Mueller III cited "substantial concern" about aggressive attempts to use students, scientists and "front companies" to acquire military secrets.

Recent prosecutions indicate that Chinese agents have infiltrated sensitive military programs pertaining to nuclear missiles, submarine propulsion technology, night-vision capabilities and fighter pilot training -- all of which could help China modernize its programs while developing countermeasures against advanced weapons systems used by the United States and its allies.

"The intelligence services of the People's Republic of China pose a significant threat both to the national security and to the compromise of U.S. critical national assets," said William Carter, an FBI spokesman. "The PRC will remain a significant threat for a long time as they attempt to develop their military capabilities and to develop their economy in order to compete in today's world economy."

While military technology appears to be the top prize, the Chinese effort is also aimed at commercial and industrial technologies, which often are poorly protected, several officials said. "Espionage used to be a problem for the FBI, CIA and military, but now it's a problem for corporations," Brenner said. "It's no longer a cloak-and-dagger thing. It's about computer architecture and the soundness of electronic systems."

Calls placed to the Chinese Embassy in Washington requesting comment on recent spy cases were not returned. But Chinese officials have repeatedly denied that their country is stealing military technology. "We have reiterated many times that allegations that China stole U.S. military secrets are groundless and made out of ulterior motives," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said at a recent news conference in Beijing, commenting on the Mak case.

But U.S. intelligence and defense officials say China has been able to use technology of U.S. origin in a new generation of advanced naval destroyers and quiet-running, stealthy submarines.

Some of those secrets may have been obtained with the help of Mak, a 67-year-old electrical engineer who became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1985 along with his wife, Rebecca Chiu Mak. The two settled in Southern California, where Mak eventually accepted a job with Power Paragon, a defense contractor that specialized in advanced naval propulsion technology. In 1996, Mak was given a security clearance at the "secret" level, which gave him access to sensitive engineering details for U.S. ships and submarines.

In 2003, Mak became the subject of an intensive federal investigation that included court-ordered wiretaps, secret property searches and the clandestine installation of a video camera inside his home. Through surveillance, FBI agents discovered that Mak was in the process of copying thousands of pages of technical documents onto computer disks, which he arranged to send to China using his brother and sister-in-law as couriers.

According to court documents, the Maks encrypted the disks to avoid detection and used coded words to arrange a drop-off of the disks to a Chinese intelligence operative. In one phone conversation, the brother, Tai Wang Mak, intimated that he would be traveling with his wife and a third companion he described as his "assistant" -- a reference, prosecutors said, to the disks, hidden in his luggage.

The plan was foiled on Oct. 28, 2005, when agents arrested Tai Wang Mak as he was preparing to board a plane at Los Angeles International Airport. Chi Mak and his wife were arrested at their home the same day.

A key piece of evidence was a to-do list of apparent intelligence targets, written in Chinese script. The note, which had been shredded, was retrieved from Chi Mak's garbage and painstakingly reassembled to reveal what prosecutors said were instructions from Beijing on the kinds of technology Mak should seek to acquire.

Mak, who testified in his defense at his six-week trial, denied he was a spy and said the information he copied was available from nonclassified sources on the Internet. Defense witnesses said that much, if not all, of the documents acquired by Mak were not officially classified, though transmitting them to China was prohibited under U.S. export laws. Mak's attorney, Ronald O. Kaye, said his client was a scapegoat for other U.S. intelligence failures and a "symbol of the government's cold war against the Chinese."

In another recent case, former Northrop Grumman scientist Noshir Gowadia, who helped build the B-2 bomber, was indicted last fall for allegedly sharing cruise missile data with the Chinese government during a half-dozen trips to China. He is scheduled to go on trial in October.

A defense lawyer for Gowadia did not return calls, but Gowadia's family in Hawaii has told local journalists that the charges stem from a misunderstanding.

Robert Clifton Burns, a Washington lawyer who specializes in export cases, said the Chinese acquisition of sophisticated U.S. technology "is fast coming out from under the radar" as authorities crack down on such shipments to foreign powers. But Burns, who closely tracks prosecutions in the area, said the government sometimes overstates the risks of exporting U.S. items.

"People who violate export laws should be thrown in jail, no question about it," Burns said. But he added that there are also people "who would be better addressed by . . . a civil result where they get a small fine."

Chinese Espionage Continues with No US Response.

The industrial and military spying outrage by the Chinese, against the US continues without consequences to the Chinese. The problem worsens yearly. I have a little suggestion:

Value the intellectual and military cost of Chinese espionage and slap a tariff on all Chinese imported goods to recover the cost in one year. It is estimated the cost to the US is in excess of $60 billion per year. That would cost them $165 million a day. That ought to get their attention.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) --

A Defense Department weapons system analyst and three natives of China have been arrested and charged in two espionage-related cases, prompting a top Justice Department official Monday to declare Chinese espionage is approaching "Cold War levels."

In a case brought by federal prosecutors in Virginia, a civilian analyst for the Defense Security Cooperation Agency stands accused of selling to two Chinese associates classified information detailing U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan.

In a separate case, California prosecutors arrested and charged a long-time employee and contractor for Boeing and Rockwell with providing Beijing secrets dealing with the space shuttle and several other sensitive military aircraft and rocket programs.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Wainstein, in a news conference announcing the arrests and charges, twice cited congressional testimony that concluded "aggressive" Chinese government espionage programs have reached levels not seen since the Cold War with the former Soviet Union.

"It's a threat to our national security and to our economic position in the world, a threat that is posed by the relentless efforts of foreign intelligence services to penetrate our security systems and steal our most sensitive military technology and information," Wainstein said. Watch authorities describe the case »

Wainstein said the Chinese government is among the most aggressive of foreign powers seeking access to U.S. military and economic secrets.

In the Virginia case officials charge that Gregg Bergersen, 51, of Alexandria, Virginia, sold highly classified information to Tai Shen Kuo, 58, a naturalized citizen who resides in New Orleans, Louisiana. Kuo then allegedly handed the information to Yu Xin Kang, 33, a lawful resident alien also living in New Orleans. Kang in turn allegedly gave the information to a spy for the Chinese government.

Kang, a permanent U.S. resident, will make her initial appearance Monday in a federal court in New Orleans before she is transferred to Virginia to stand trial.

Bergersen and Kuo made initial court appearances in Alexandria, but because they had no lawyers were ordered detained pending a detention hearing Thursday. Bergersen, who was arrested Monday morning, was still wearing a T-shirt and shorts as he appeared before a magistrate judge.

A woman identifying herself as Bergersen's wife told reporters her husband is innocent and the charges had "come out of the blue."

At the Washington news conference, officials declined to comment on how much Bergersen was paid, or whether he knew the destination of the secrets he sold.

Justice Department officials said Kuo cultivated friendships with Bergersen and others at the direction of an unidentified official of the Beijing government. Kuo allegedly "gathered national defense information on behalf of the government" of China from January 2006 to this month.

Meanwhile, in Santa Ana, California, a long-time defense industry employee and contractor was scheduled to appear in court for allegedly providing military secrets to Beijing. Watch where the U.S. says Chinese spies are working »

"A document says he did it out of loyalty to the Motherland," said U.S. Attorney Thomas O'Brien.

O'Brien said Dongfan "Greg" Chung, 72, of Orange, California, a naturalized U.S. citizen, had worked for Rockwell, Boeing and a Boeing contractor for more than 30 years.

"Chung made multiple trips to the PRC [People's Republic of China] to deliver lectures on technology involving the space shuttle and other programs, and during those trips he met with officials and agents of the PRC government," O'Brien said. Chung also allegedly provided information on the C-17 military transport and the Delta IV rocket.

He is scheduled to appear before a federal magistrate in Santa Ana, California, late Monday, officials said.

Prosecutors say the case is linked to that of another engineer, Chi Mak, who was convicted last year along with several family members of providing information to the Beijing government.

Did the Chinese Hack the Pentagon?

Yesterday, a story appeared about the Chinese military hacking into Pentagon computers. Of course they deny it. Previously, there was the incident of the Chinese destroying an old communications satellite with a missile. China is intent on achieving some level of parity with the US military. The least expensive route is to focuse on the most vulnerable of the communications and control links used by the US military. It may be nothing more than a demonstration by the Chinese to sew doubt into the minds of Pentagon planners. It could be something far more sinister. I think I favor the sinister part.

Chinese military hacked into Pentagon
By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington and Richard McGregor in Beijing
Published Financial Times: September 3 2007 19:00 | Last updated: September 3 2007 20:53

The Chinese military hacked into a Pentagon computer network in June in the most successful cyber attack on the US defence department, say American ­officials.

The Pentagon acknowledged shutting down part of a computer system serving the office of Robert Gates, defence secretary, but declined to say who it believed was behind the attack.

Current and former officials have told the Financial Times an internal investigation has revealed that the incursion came from the People’s Liberation Army.

One senior US official said the Pentagon had pinpointed the exact origins of the attack. Another person familiar with the event said there was a “very high level of confidence...trending towards total certainty” that the PLA was responsible. The defence ministry in Beijing declined to comment on Monday.

Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, raised reports of Chinese infiltration of German government computers with Wen Jiabao, China’s premier, in a visit to Beijing, after which the Chinese foreign ministry said the government opposed and forbade “any criminal acts undermining computer systems, including hacking”.

“We have explicit laws and regulations in this regard,” said Jiang Yu, from the ministry. “Hacking is a global issue and China is frequently a victim.”

George W. Bush, US president, is due to meet Hu Jintao, China’s president, on Thursday in Australia prior to the Apec summit.

The PLA regularly probes US military networks – and the Pentagon is widely assumed to scan Chinese networks – but US officials said the penetration in June raised concerns to a new level because of fears that China had shown it could disrupt systems at critical times.

“The PLA has demonstrated the ability to conduct attacks that disable our system...and the ability in a conflict situation to re-enter and disrupt on a very large scale,” said a former official, who said the PLA had penetrated the networks of US defence companies and think-tanks.

Hackers from numerous locations in China spent several months probing the Pentagon system before overcoming its defences, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Pentagon took down the network for more than a week while the attacks continued, and is to conduct a comprehensive diagnosis. “These are multiple wake-up calls stirring us to levels of more aggressive vigilance,” said Richard Lawless, the Pentagon’s top Asia official at the time of the attacks.

The Pentagon is still investigating how much data was downloaded, but one person with knowledge of the attack said most of the information was probably “unclassified”. He said the event had forced officials to reconsider the kind of information they send over unsecured e-mail systems.

John Hamre, a Clinton-era deputy defence secretary involved with cyber security, said that while he had no knowledge of the June attack, criminal groups sometimes masked cyber attacks to make it appear they came from government computers in a particular country.

The National Security Council said the White House had created a team of experts to consider whether the administration needed to restrict the use of BlackBerries because of concerns about cyber espionage.

The Chinese Erosion of US Security

One of the many little things stolen by the Chinese. Read the names of the Chinese spies identified and captured. Not too many O'Briens and Williams. Perhaps if they look like there may be some bok choy in their fridge they should not be in atomic weapons research labs.

“There is substantial concern,” Mr. Mueller said. “China is stealing our secrets in an effort to leap ahead in terms of its military technology, but also the economic capability of China. It is a substantial threat that we are addressing in the sense of building our program to address this threat.”

FBI calls Chinese espionage 'substantial'
By Bill Gertz, Washington Times
July 27, 2007

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III said yesterday that Chinese intelligence operations against the United States are a major problem and that the FBI is stepping up counterespionage efforts against them.

Mr. Mueller was asked during a House Judiciary Committee hearing about growing Chinese espionage activities.

“There is substantial concern,” Mr. Mueller said. “China is stealing our secrets in an effort to leap ahead in terms of its military technology, but also the economic capability of China. It is a substantial threat that we are addressing in the sense of building our program to address this threat.”

He declined to elaborate but said he would be willing to disclose more in a closed-door meeting.

The FBI and other counterintelligence agencies are hiring more agents and analysts who specialize in Chinese affairs to deal with the threat, U.S. officials said.

The FBI in San Francisco last month ran advertisements in three Chinese-language newspapers, asking for help from Chinese Americans to provide information about “illicit activities,” presumably by Chinese intelligence operatives.

Several recent Chinese spy cases highlight the problem of Beijing's spying, including the case of Los Angeles businesswoman Katrina Leung, a longtime informant for the FBI who was later accused of secretly working for China's intelligence service, the Ministry of State Security.

Another Chinese spy ring was recently highlighted by the case of Chinese-born defense contractor Chi Mak, who was convicted of passing embargoed U.S. defense technology to China. Several of his relatives also were linked to the compromise of U.S. Navy technology to China.

Noshir Gowadia, a Hawaii-based defense consultant, also was indicted last year on charges of selling classified B-2 bomber and other weapons technology to China. He also was charged with helping Chinese missile designers build a stealth cruise missile. He pleaded not guilty.

Joel Brenner, the director of national counterintelligence, said in an interview in March that China's theft of technology from the United States is a serious problem and that Beijing is “eating our lunch” in terms of compromised know-how.

Chinese spies are “very aggressive” in obtaining technology, often before it is fully developed by U.S. researchers, Mr. Brenner said.

Michelle Van Cleave, a former national counterintelligence executive, said in a recent defense report that Chinese spies are among “the world's most effective” and include civilian and military spies who have “a global reach.”

Recent Chinese espionage successes include design information on all of the most advanced U.S. nuclear weapons, U.S. missile design and guidance technology, electromagnetic weapons and space-launch capabilities, Miss Van Cleave stated.

China also succeeded in frustrating U.S. intelligence-gathering and counterintelligence against China through Leung, Mr. Brenner said.

China's government denies that it engaged in intelligence-gathering against the United States.