DOJ WRITES THE HISTORY: A recent press release from the Department of Justice caught our eye. The headline blared: “Former CIA Officer Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Espionage.” A troubling story indeed. The lead of the DOJ statement read, “Alexander Yuk Ching Ma, 71, of Honolulu, a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to gather and deliver national defense information to the People’s Republic of China (PRC).” It goes on to say that Ma – has an unnamed blood relative who also worked for the CIA and apparently is cooperating with the government. But the third paragraph says that starting in March 2001, “when he no longer worked for the CIA” Ma first met with representatives of the Chinese “Shanghai State Security Bureau” and he and his unnamed relative turned over “a large volume of classified” info. Prosecutors believe this continued for quite some time. So, what was Ma doing while not working for the CIA? From August 2004 to October 2012, he was working for the FBI. So, it seems that DOJ could just have easily titled their press release, “Former FBI Employee Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Espionage.” But the other formulation probably sounded better at Justice. According to the announcement, under a plea agreement “Ma must cooperate with the United States, including by submitting to debriefings by U.S. government agencies. The plea agreement, if accepted by the Court, calls for an agreed-upon sentence of 10 years in prison. Sentencing is set for Sept. 11.”
THOSE DOG-GUN CHINESE: The Chinese military recently took part in joint training with Cambodian troops in an exercise dubbed “Golden Dragon.” But they might have called it “Golden Retriever” since it featured robotic dogs equipped with automatic rifles. Perhaps the mechanical mutts’ bark was worse than their bite – because according to press reports they did not fire any shots during the exercise. It is unclear if/when Beijing will unleash its killer canines. Metal dogs that can gun down humans is the stuff of nightmares. Don’t share this item with Governor Noem of South Dakota.
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