Steve,
That was a cool article... I haven't read the Cox report but I find it interesting that the information was based on a "walk-in" source. They generally have to be screened more carefully than a source that is developed in-house and their information must be confirmed through independent efforts. Guess what our "men in black" are doing right now?? Working overtime to confirm or refute the exact degree of the penetration, if any.
I guess that is what they say is most interesting about intelligence and counter-intelligence work. It's so difficult to tell the difference between "collecting" information, and being the target of of a counter-intelligence disinformation operation.
Who can we ever trust??? <VBG>
But let's take this scenario out one stretch further. WHY would the Chinese intelligence attempt to plant such a belief, knowing that it would have such grievous political consequences??
Is this an operaton aimed at bemusing the US as to the actual capabilities of China, or was it an in-house rogue operation aimed at disrupting the emerging co-operation that would breaking out between Bejing and China?? Military reactionism subverting domestic leadership in Bejing??
It certainly keeps our CI assets fully engaged at performing damage control and reactionary security assessments which should have been done long ago.
The possibilities are infinite and I can see why that CIA analyst was uncomfortable with the convenience of the "walk-in" source.
In the end, we have to look at how the world balance of power is significantly altered by Chinese having knowledge of our nuclear secrets. We certainly don't see it evident at the current moment and China certainly can't afford to go off on a large-scale military build-up. We should less concern about whether the Chinese have that info, and more concerned as to HOW, if confirmed, they received it and why there was such a lethargic security system in place to protect them.
Spying is not the threat as it is will always be with us. The threat is not protecting our massive investment in secret weapons technology.
So I don't blame the Chinese, I blame our people for letting them.. if they actually have.
Thanks again for the article.
Regards,
Ron
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