An ex-CIA officer was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Friday for spying for China in a case called part of an “alarming trend” in the US intelligence community.

Kevin Mallory, 62, was convicted under the Espionage Act for selling classified US “defence information” to a Chinese intelligence agent for $25,000 during trips to Shanghai in March and April 2017.

“Your object is to gain information, and my object is to be paid,” he told the Chinese agent in a 5 May 2017 message.

The fluent Mandarin speaker had served in the US army, then as a special agent for the security service of the state department, before becoming a covert case officer for the CIA.

Mallory is one of several US officials with high-level security clearances arrested and charged over unsanctioned dealings with Chinese intelligence.

The former defence intelligence agency official Ron Hansen faces 15 years in prison after pleading guilty in March to charges of attempting to sell classified information to China.

In April, a former diplomat Candace Marie Claiborne pleaded guilty to lying to investigators about money she received from Chinese intelligence agents in exchange for US documents.

And in the most significant case, on 1 May, the former CIA officer Jerry Chun Shing Lee pleaded guilty to spying for China.

Lee, 54, faces a possible life sentence. Arrested in January 2018, he was suspected of having provided Beijing the information it needed to bring down a CIA network of informants in China between 2010 and 2012.

“This case is one in an alarming trend of former US intelligence officers being targeted by China and betraying their country and colleagues,” assistant attorney general John Demers said of the Mallory case.

“This sentence, together with the recent guilty pleas of Ron Hansen in Utah and Jerry Lee in Virginia, deliver the stern message that our former intelligence officers have no business partnering with the Chinese, or any other adversarial foreign intelligence service.”

Mallory’s lawyers said they planned to appeal the conviction. </s> A former spy for the US Central Intelligence Agency was sentenced on Friday to 20 years in prison after being convicted on charges of conspiring to transmit US defence secrets to China, the Justice Department said.

Kevin Patrick Mallory, of Leesburg, Virginia, was found guilty by a federal jury in June 2018 of several counts of conspiring to provide national defence information to aid a foreign government and making false statements.

“This case is one in an alarming trend of former US intelligence officers being targeted by China and betraying their country and colleagues," Assistant Attorney General John Demers said in a statement.

The Justice Department said that Mallory, 62, held numerous sensitive jobs with government agencies and defence contractors. His career included working as a covert case officer for the CIA and as an intelligence officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). He held a top secret security clearance.

Evidence at Mallory`s trial included surveillance video from a FedEx store in Leesburg, where Mallory could be seen scanning documents classified "Secret" and "Top Secret" onto a memory card, which

FBI investigators found during a search of Mallory`s home the day he was arrested.

Earlier this month, another former CIA officer, Jerry Chun Shing Lee, pleaded guilty to federal charges of spying for China. Ron Rockwell Hansen, a former DIA officer, pleaded guilty in March to espionage-related charges and receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars while acting as an agent for Beijing. </s> Washington: A former spy for the US Central Intelligence Agency has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after being convicted on charges of conspiring to transmit defence secrets to China, the US Justice Department said.

Kevin Patrick Mallory, of Leesburg, Virginia, was found guilty by a federal jury in June 2018 of several counts of conspiring to provide national defence information to aid a foreign government and making false statements.

“This case is one in an alarming trend of former US intelligence officers being targeted by China and betraying their country and colleagues," Assistant Attorney-General John Demers said in a statement.

The Justice Department said that Mallory, 62, held numerous sensitive jobs with government agencies and defence contractors. His career included working as a covert case officer for the CIA and as an intelligence officer for the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA). He held a top secret security clearance until he stopped working as a CIA contractor in 2012. He then launched his own consulting business. </s> A former official of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was on Friday sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment for spying for China.

The former official, Kevin Mallory, 62, of Leesburg, Virginia, is an Army veteran who also worked for the Central Intelligence Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency, and had a top-secret security clearance until he stopped working as a CIA contractor in 2012. He then launched his own consulting business.

Mallory, 62, was found guilty by a federal jury in June 2018 of conspiracy to deliver, attempted delivery, delivery of national defence information to aid a foreign government and making material false statements.

Mallory had previously been accused of sharing classified information with a defence contractor in 2010 while trying to start his consulting business, and his security clearance was revoked.

Mallory is one of three former intelligence officers charged in recent years with helping China. </s> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former officer with the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency was arrested over the weekend for allegedly trying to spy on the United States for China, the Justice Department said on Monday.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation took Ron Rockwell Hansen, 58, into custody on Saturday while he was on his way to the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to get a connecting flight to China.

The department said he has been accused of trying to transmit national defense information to China and with receiving "hundreds of thousands of dollars" while acting illegally as an agent for the Chinese government.

Reuters could not immediately learn who may be representing Hansen in the case.

Hansen is the latest person in a string of former U.S. intelligence officers to be swept up in criminal probes related to spying for the Chinese.

Earlier this year, former CIA case officer Jerry Chun Shing Lee was indicted for conspiring to gather or deliver national defense information to China.

Another former U.S. intelligence employee named Kevin Mallory is on trial in Virginia, also in connection with selling secrets to China.

In the new case announced Monday, prosecutors said that Hansen speaks fluent Mandarin-Chinese and Russian.

He served as a case officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency while on active military duty from 2000-2006, and later continued that line of work as a civilian employee and a contractor.

He also held a top secret clearance for years.

The government said that between 2013 and 2017, he traveled between the two countries attending conferences and provided the information he learned to China's intelligence service.

He was paid via wire transfers, cash and credit cards. He also allegedly improperly sold export-controlled technology.

“His alleged actions are a betrayal of our nation's security and the American people and are an affront to his former intelligence community colleagues," said John Demers, the head of the Justice Department's National Security Division.

He is expected to appear before a magistrate judge in Seattle later on Monday, and is charged in a 15-count complaint. </s> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former spy for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency was sentenced on Friday to 20 years in prison after being convicted on charges of conspiring to transmit U.S. defence secrets to China, the Justice Department said.

Kevin Patrick Mallory, of Leesburg, Virginia, was found guilty by a federal jury in June 2018 of several counts of conspiring to provide national defence information to aid a foreign government and making false statements.

“This case is one in an alarming trend of former U.S. intelligence officers being targeted by China and betraying their country and colleagues," Assistant Attorney General John Demers said in a statement.

The Justice Department said that Mallory, 62, held numerous sensitive jobs with government agencies and defence contractors. His career included working as a covert case officer for the CIA and as an intelligence officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). He held a top secret security clearance.

Evidence at Mallory's trial included surveillance video from a FedEx store in Leesburg, where Mallory could be seen scanning documents classified "Secret" and "Top Secret" onto a memory card, which FBI investigators found during a search of Mallory's home the day he was arrested.

Earlier this month, another former CIA officer, Jerry Chun Shing Lee, pleaded guilty to federal charges of spying for China. Ron Rockwell Hansen, a former DIA officer, pleaded guilty in March to espionage related charges and receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars while acting as an agent for Beijing.

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.

Your guide to the latest election news, analysis, commentary, live updates and schedule for Lok Sabha Elections 2019 on firstpost.com/elections. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram or like our Facebook page for updates from all 543 constituencies for the upcoming general elections. </s> A former officer with the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency was arrested over the weekend for allegedly trying to spy on the United States for China, the Justice Department said on Monday.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation took Ron Rockwell Hansen, 58, into custody on Saturday while he was on his way to the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to get a connecting flight to China.

The department said he has been accused of trying to transmit national defense information to China and with receiving “hundreds of thousands of dollars” while acting illegally as an agent for the Chinese government.

Reuters could not immediately learn who may be representing Hansen in the case.

Hansen is the latest person in a string of former U.S. intelligence officers to be swept up in criminal probes related to spying for the Chinese.

Earlier this year, former CIA case officer Jerry Chun Shing Lee was indicted for conspiring to gather or deliver national defense information to China.

Another former U.S. intelligence employee named Kevin Mallory is on trial in Virginia, also in connection with selling secrets to China.

In the new case announced Monday, prosecutors said that Hansen speaks fluent Mandarin-Chinese and Russian.

He served as a case officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency while on active military duty from 2000-2006, and later continued that line of work as a civilian employee and a contractor.

He also held a top secret clearance for years.

Used travel to deliver information to China

The government said that between 2013 and 2017, he traveled between the two countries attending conferences and provided the information he learned to China's intelligence service.

He was paid via wire transfers, cash and credit cards. He also allegedly improperly sold export-controlled technology.

“His alleged actions are a betrayal of our nation’s security and the American people and are an affront to his former intelligence community colleagues,” said John Demers, the head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

According to court records, the FBI started investigating his activities in 2014. He was unaware of the probe, and participated in nine voluntary meetings with federal agents in Salt Lake City. Utah.

Prosecutors say that during his meetings, he told the FBI that Chinese intelligence had tried to recruit him, offered to cooperate as a source and even provided thumb drives to the FBI that contained classified materials he was not authorized to have.

Hansen appeared before a magistrate judge in Seattle on Monday, and is charged in a 15-count complaint. </s> Former U.S. Intelligence Officer Charged With Selling Secrets To China

A former Defense Intelligence Agency officer has been charged with attempted espionage for allegedly selling secrets to China.

Ron Rockwell Hansen, a 58-year-old Utah resident, was seized on Saturday on his way to the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, where prosecutors say he meant to board a China-bound flight.

According to The Associated Press, a 41-page felony complaint details how Hansen was paid as much as $800,000 over a period of years to provide technology and secrets to Beijing.

"Several years after he left the U.S. government, he allegedly attended trade conferences on behalf of China and shared information he gathered with officials connected to Chinese intelligence. Charging documents also allege he transferred forensic software worth several thousand dollars, in violation of export controls," the AP writes.

The FBI reportedly began investigating Hansen in 2014 and he allegedly approached FBI informants in 2015 and again in 2016, acknowledging to them that he was being paid to pass information to China, according to the AP.

Reuters reports that he also allegedly sold export-controlled technology.

"His alleged actions are a betrayal of our nation's security and the American people and are an affront to his former intelligence community colleagues," John Demers, the head of the Justice Department's National Security Division, was quoted by Reuters as saying.

Hansen was a DIA case officer while on active military duty from 2000-2006 and held a top-secret clearance for years.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying was quoted by Reuters as saying she had no information on the case.

"But certainly of late there have been some issues between China and the United States," Hua told reporters in Beijing. "We think China and the U.S. are two major countries and both sides should do more things that strengthen cooperation and mutual trust."

Last month, Jerry Chun Shing Lee, a 53-year-old former Central Intelligence Agency officer who is a naturalized U.S. citizen, was charged with conspiracy to commit espionage on behalf of China.

In 2012, the FBI searched his hotel room in Honolulu and discovered notebooks of handwritten notes – including information about U.S. assets in China, according to court documents.

Through his attorney, Lee has denied that he is a Chinese spy. </s> A former US intelligence officer has been charged with attempting to spy for China

Mr Hansen was allegedly carrying classified information when he was arrested and had received at least $800,000 (£600,000) for acting as a Chinese agent, according to the justice department.

In total, the accused been charged on 15 counts, including structuring monetary transactions, smuggling goods from the US, bulk cash smuggling and acting as an unregistered foreign agent for China.

The arrest is the latest in a series of American officials who have been charged for spying on behalf of Beijing.

Mr Hansen, who is fluent in Chinese and Russian, served in the US Army as a warrant officer and has a background in signals and human intelligence. He was subsequently recruited by the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in 2006 and worked as a civilian intelligence case officer — someone who recruits and manages foreign agents.
An American who formerly worked for the Central Intelligence Agency is arrested on charges of selling classified information to Chinese operatives in May 2017.