Ex-CIA officer Kevin Mallory sentenced to 20 years for spying for China

[turbinetree]

Source: The Guardian

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.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/18/ex-cia-officer-kevin-mallory-sentenced-to-20-years-for-spying-for-china

---

[Princetonian]

1. Judas... I do not understand how someone can train to defend one's country then turn traitor.

I feel sorry for their families.

[iluvtennis]

3. Ditto.

[jmowreader]

6. There are several reasons

The big one is money - either you need it or you’re greedy.

Other things are blackmail, anger at the government (the Chelsea Manning case), love of the country you’re spying for (Jonathan Pollard) and...”other.”

[Major Nikon]

10. Most people don't join the military for patriotic reasons

They do it for personal reasons, which is the same self-justification used to betray. All a potential spy recruiter has to do is introduce opportunity.

[Bigredhunk]

2. No kidding

I'm guessing it's all about the $$$$$

[Farmer-Rick]

4. Well, we got a president who spies for Putin

When you do it for thousands instead of $100's of millions, I guess then it is a crime.

This is so absurd. It's like we are pretending to have laws while our Lords and Masters of capitalism get away with murder.

[FreepFryer]

5. $25k is nothing. He must have been preparing some really tasty stuff for CIA to bust him this early.

Put two digits on it and the risk reward ratio makes a lot more sense. Some data point is missing from this story that explains the rock bottom price of the acts of espionage that were the basis of his conviction.

I would bet that more took place here than is reported, but this was what was made public to justify the sentence in the court of public opinion. Just a speculation.

[IronLionZion]

7. Some people are so hell bent on making sure Asian-Americans don't get security clearances

that they miss people like Kevin Mallory

[nycbos]

8. Sold out his country for a lousy $25,000?

[Xolodno]

9. That's usually the down payment...

...read a self help book written by a spy.

In it, he points out how all spy agencies start small in new recruitment.

1. Some of their turncoats exaggerate about the information they have.
2. Some exaggerate the access they have.
3. They don't know if the target is trying to become a double.
4. Some are just flat out foolish and start bragging about being a "spy".
5. You don't know if they are "too hot" and the country in question is already watching them.
6. Just trying to bullshit to get a quick cash grab.

So often the handler has them do a simple task of information retrieval, usually about something they are already aware of. And then gradually work from there. Apparently, its quite often they shut down the potential spy because of the six reasons I mentioned.

I'm gonna guess No. 5 happened.

In the past, many spy's earned a lot of money, not off one job, but off of several. They often get caught because of their greed and never think they would get caught. The country they are spying for doesn't usually care, they got the information they paid for and acted on it already. Every once in a great while, one spy may realize they went too far and defect right in the middle of being investigated, some times even days before they are arrested. Upside for the spying country, propaganda. Downside, now they have pay for the living expenses of an asset that has no more information for them.