Alexander Yuk Ching Ma, 67, joined the CIA in 1967 and served as an intelligence officer until his retirement in 1989.
Alexander Yuk Ching Ma, the former CIA agent accused of selling US intelligence to China was arrested on Monday on charges of spying.
- Many years later, the FBI hired him to work as a Chinese linguist in the Bureau’s Honolulu field office.
- According to court documents, he is said to have sent Intel to his Chinese allies.
- Ma also admits in the video that he provided secret information to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
- Last year, CIA officer Jerry Chun Shing Lee was sentenced to 19 years in prison.
Alexander Yuk Ching Ma has served in the CIA for more than twenty years, most recently with the FBI.
But Ma was deceived by a secret investigator to reveal that he was a secret double agent to the Chinese.
Loose lips
Alexander Yuk Ching Ma, 67, joined the CIA in 1967 and served as an intelligence officer until his retirement in 1989. As part of his tenure, he completed a job abroad in the East-Asia and Pacific region.
But twelve years after leaving the CIA, prosecutors allege that Ma secretly met with at least five officials from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Defense.
From a Hong Kong hotel room, Ma released a significant amount of highly classified national security information to members of the Chinese government.
He disclosed details about the CIA’s internal operations, covert communication methods and identities of CIA officers and human assets.
Still, Ma’s plan did not end with the CIA. Many years later, the FBI hired him to work as a Chinese linguist in the Bureau’s Honolulu field office.
Using his new work and security permit, Ma copied or photographed confidential documents about guided missile and weapons systems, among other American secrets. According to court documents, he is said to have sent Intel to his Chinese allies.
Alexander Yuk Ching Ma’s misconduct
When the FBI finally came to terms with Ma’s misconduct, a secret agent disguised as a representative of the Chinese government arranged a meeting with Ma.
The undercover operative told Ma that he wanted to know “how Ma was treated” by his Chinese allies, “including the amount compensated to him,” according to information filed in court.
In one video, a secret agent pays $2,000 for flour and tells him that it recognizes the work he has done on behalf of China. Ma agrees, and he wants the “motherland to win” (referring to China).
Alexander Yuk Ching Ma also admits in the video that he provided secret information to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Other Chinese spies
Beyond the flour, the CIA believes other Chinese spies have infiltrated US intelligence. Last year, CIA officer Jerry Chun Shing Lee was sentenced to 19 years in prison after pleading guilty to plotting with Chinese intelligence agents.
“The path of Chinese intelligence is long and, unfortunately, stretches with former U.S. intelligence officials,” said John Demers, assistant attorney general for national security. He accused these spies of “betraying their colleagues, their country and its liberal democratic values” to support a dictatorial communist regime.
“For Chinese intelligence services, these individuals are costly. For us, they are sad, but urgently reminded of the need to be vigilant.”
