US spy threat matches Cold War

2007-03-29 21:38

Washington - The United States is facing a major threat from foreign intelligence groups, including from the Russians whose American espionage operations have matched Cold War levels, said a top intelligence official on Thursday.

The Chinese, Iranians and Cubans are among the other foreign spies attempting to infiltrate into US secret systems and American establishments overseas, said Joel Brenner, head of the office of the national counterintelligence executive.

"I don't mean to suggest that the Chinese are alone in this. The Russians are now back to Cold War levels in their efforts to (extract intelligence information from) the United States," he said at a forum of the American Bar Association.

He added: "They are sending over an increasing and troubling number of intelligence officers into the United States."

Brenner, who reports directly to director of national intelligence Michael McConnell, said that the Iranians and Cubans are also significant" threats among the 140 foreign intelligence services that try to penetrate the United States or US organisations abroad.

'Part of their agenda'

"The job is not getting easier," he said. "And for many of them, we are their number one target."

Asked what the Russian intelligence was particularly interested in securing from the United States, Brenner said: "What every intelligence agency on the planet really wants is the high level intentions of the leadership of other countries.

"And the Russians are no different than anybody else in that respect.

"They have been reeling from being one of the world's great superpowers to being something very different and trying to build themselves up and show that they are going have to be dealt with like a major. It is part of their agenda here."

To highlight the extent of the Chinese espionage network in the United States, Brenner cited the case of Chi Mak, a US citizen born in southern China accused of attempting to smuggle out information on a secret technology to make US submarines silent.

Chi Mak had worked as a contractor on the US Navy's quiet electric drive, the technology designed to suppress the signature emitted by US submarines and surface warships.

'Not small potatoes'

Chi Mak, whose trial is underway in California, admitted under questioning that he had been passing information to the Chinese since 1983 and that the technologies he had compromised included the power distribution technology for the Aegis cruiser's radar system, said Brenner.

"The compromise is not small potatoes," he said. "It shortens by years the technological advantage of the US Navy. It degrades the Navy's deterrent capability in the Taiwan Strait."

China on Thursday denied involvement with the engineer and called allegations of Chinese espionage "groundless".

- AFP