By Faye Bowers, The Christian Science Monitor
WASHINGTON — A highly respected U.S. State Department official was arrested last week, suspected of passing secret government documents to Taiwanese intelligence agents. And earlier this month, word leaked that the FBI is investigating a Pentagon official for possibly providing classified information to Israel.
The cases are alarming enough, in that two men in sensitive positions may be betraying their country. But together they also highlight one less well-known fact: Espionage against the U.S. is increasing, rather than decreasing,in the post-cold-war era, experts say. Because the U.S. has become the sole dominant military and economic power in the world, friends and foes alike want access to more information than the U.S. readily shares with them.
"There is an ever-present threat of foreign intelligence collection against the U.S.," says a U.S. law enforcement official. "And it's not only the traditional, like military capabilities. It's foreign policy planning, and there is a vast interest in patent materials, not only for machines, but for research."
The Federal Bureau of Investigation regularly updates a closely held list of the countries that threaten national security due to espionage operations. "The top five countries on that list are China, Israel, Russia, France, and North Korea. Others include Cuba, Pakistan, and India," says an official close to the FBI.
The latest unclassified information — a 2000 report prepared for Congress by the National Counterintelligence Center — lists the "most active collectors" against the U.S. as China, Japan, Israel, France, Korea, Taiwan, and India. And, experts say, Al Qaeda conducts espionage here as well.
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http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-09-20-spying_x.htm
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