I'm still working out the details, but it all fits, every last roly-poly piece of it. Think Rosenbergs, only with more fur. But it wasn't until all this latest stuff about how old and sick Hsing-Hsing is, and how this time he might not make it, plus all that other stuff about all that Chinese espionage, that I finally started paying attention, started making connections. And it all lines up. Take the timing, first of all.
Timing is key in the spy trade, and the timing here is practically perfect.
In the late 1970s, according to the latest reports. After that, it was all business. And take location. These pandas couldn't have been in a better place to do their dirty work. The zoo is in Northwest Washington, not far from all sorts of embassies.