A former CIA officer has been jailed for 20 years for disclosing military secrets to a Chinese agent in return for $25,000, bringing to a close one of several cases involving Chinese bids to recruit former American intelligence officers, the media reported.
Kevin Mallory, 62, was found guilty of several spyingoffences following a two-week trial in June 2018 and sentenced by a federaljudge in Northern Virginia on Friday, the New York Times reported.
Prosecutors said that he provided a Chinese intelligenceofficer with classified documents, a violation of the Espionage Act.
The fluent Mandarin speaker from Leesburg, Virginia, heldtop-level security clearance and had access to sensitive documents. He wasconvicted of selling secrets to China for $25,000.
Evidence at his trial included a surveillance video whichshowed him scanning classified documents onto a digital memory card at a postoffice. He also travelled to Shanghai to meet a Chinese agent in March andApril 2017, the US Justice Department said.
“Mallory not only put our country at great risk, but heendangered the lives of specific human assets who put their own safety at riskfor our national defence,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, US Attorney forthe Eastern District of Virginia. “This case should send a message toanyone considering violating the public’s trust and compromising our nationalsecurity. We will remain steadfast and dogged in pursuit of these challengingbut critical national security cases,” added the attorney. The Justice Departmentsaid Mallory held a number of sensitive jobs with government agencies. He hadworked as a covert case officer for the Central Intelligence Agency and as anintelligence officer for the Defence intelligence Agency (DIA).
“This case is one in an alarming trend of former USintelligence officers being targeted by China and betraying their country andcolleagues,” said Assistant Attorney General John Demers following thesentencing. Earlier this month, former CIA agent Jerry Chun Shing Lee pleadedguilty to spying for China. Prosecutors said the naturalized American citizenwas paid to divulge information on US covert assets.Last June, former US intelligence officer RonRockwell Hansen was also charged with attempting to spy for China.