spying

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Ex-Navy Sailor Gets 200 Months Behind Bars

Jinchao Wei, 25, was convicted of selling ship manuals to a Chinese intelligence officer

(Newser) - A former US Navy sailor convicted of selling technical and operating manuals for ships and operating systems to an intelligence officer working for China was sentenced Monday to 16-plus years in prison, prosecutors said. A San Diego federal judge sentenced Jinchao Wei, 25, to 200 months, reports the AP . A...

Ex-CIA Agent Spills on Russia and China's 'Honeypot' Spies

Operatives allegedly use romance and play the long game to access state secrets, technology

(Newser) - China and Russia are reportedly deploying "sex spies" to the United States in a bid to steal secrets and gain a strategic edge, according to a former CIA operative. Sharing his personal experience with Fox News Digital , J. Michael Waller said he encountered such tactics firsthand while working in...

Feds Uncover 200K More SIM Cards in 'China-Linked Plot'

Network found in NYC area had potential to take down 'every cell tower in the nation's largest city'

(Newser) - Last week, Secret Service agents announced they'd unearthed a huge secret telecommunications network in the New York tristate area, complete with 100,000 SIM cards and hundreds of servers found in various locations not far from United Nations headquarters. Now, an added layer: Law enforcement sources say that Homeland...

UK Spy Agency's New Recruiting Tool: 'Silent Courier'

MI6 rolls out portal on the dark web to bring in spies from Russia, elsewhere

(Newser) - Britain's MI6 is taking an unconventional step to bolster its intelligence ranks, rolling out a secure dark-web portal aimed squarely at attracting would-be spies—especially those inside Russia. Dubbed "Silent Courier," the platform is designed to make it easier for potential recruits, wherever they may be,...

'Salt Typhoon' Hack May Have Compromised Nearly Entire US
'Salt Typhoon' Hack May Have
Compromised Nearly Entire US
in case you missed it
Sep 7, 2025 7:00 AM CDT

'Salt Typhoon' Hack May Have Compromised Nearly Entire US

Coordinated breach via Chinese hackers hit global telecom, government, infrastructure networks

(Newser) - Chinese hackers operating under the group name "Salt Typhoon" have reportedly carried out one of the largest cyberespionage campaigns to date, according to Western security officials. The group is thought to be behind an operation that breached networks across more than 80 countries, including the United States, and...

Report: Russian Drones Are Tracking Supplies to Ukraine

Surveillance flights raise alarms over potential sabotage on European routes used by US

(Newser) - US and European officials say Russian surveillance drones are being flown over key military supply routes in eastern Germany, gathering intelligence that could help Moscow's sabotage efforts in its war in Ukraine. The activity along routes used by the US and its allies, described as "straight-up espionage"...

Feds: US Soldier Tried to Give Russia Secrets on Battle Tank

Taylor Adam Lee allegedly hoped to trade details on tank used in Ukraine for citizenship

(Newser) - A US Army soldier from Texas is accused of trying to trade classified tank secrets for Russian citizenship. Federal authorities say Taylor Adam Lee, a 22-year-old service member stationed at Fort Bliss, attempted to hand over sensitive information about America's main battle tank, the M1A2 Abrams, per CBS...

After Spying Report, Denmark Wants a Word With US Ambassador

'It worries me greatly because we do not spy on friends,' says foreign minister

(Newser) - Denmark wants answers after sources came forward to report that the US will ramp up its spying efforts in Greenland. The Danish foreign minister told reporters Wednesday that he will summon the US ambassador to Copenhagen and ask him to explain the report, which he called "somewhat disturbing,"...

Dad Asks Son to Join Family Business—Spying
Dad Asks Son to Join
Family Business—Spying
longform
Apr 20, 2025 9:00 AM CDT

Dad Asks Son to Join Family Business—Spying

Guardian details the story of former KGB agent in the US recruited by his father at age 16

(Newser) - In one sense, it was a fairly typical conversation between a father and son. When Peter Herrmann turned 16, dad Rudi sat him down to talk about his life plans. But the conversation took quite a twist, as recounted by Shaun Walker at the Guardian :
  • "I am not who
...

MI6 Could Get Its First Woman Spy Chief

It seems that the James Bond series got there a lot faster than the real-world British spy agency

(Newser) - Real-life spies say their world is nothing like that of James Bond, but the AP reports that in one way, truth may soon follow fiction: MI6 could be about to get its first woman leader. Britain's foreign intelligence agency launched a search for its next chief on Tuesday, and...

Queen Only Later Learned Her Art Adviser Led a Double Life

Declassified MI5 files show she wasn't told about Anthony Blunt was a spy until 1973

(Newser) - Queen Elizabeth II wasn't told details of her long-time art adviser's double life as a Soviet spy because palace officials didn't want to add to her worries, newly declassified documents reveal. The files about royal art historian Anthony Blunt are among a trove from the intelligence agency...

Prince Andrew: I've 'Ceased All Contact' With Accused Spy

Chinese national was invited by Andrew himself to royal residences, as revealed in court hearing

(Newser) - A businessman who's been accused of being a Chinese spy has had quite a tour of Britain's royal residences—all at the behest of Prince Andrew, according to recent reports. Per the UK Times , which cites info that emerged at a Thursday hearing, the 64-year-old younger brother of...

Spy Agency's Xmas Card Is 'Riddle Wrapped in an Enigma'

GCHQ's annual greeting features 'fiendishly difficult' puzzles to excite the minds of UK kids

(Newser) - What does a spy agency give for Christmas? How about a riddle wrapped in an enigma inside a mystery? GCHQ, Britain's electronic and cyberintelligence agency, on Wednesday published its annual "Christmas Challenge" —a seasonal greeting card that doubles as a set of fiendishly difficult puzzles designed to...

UK Official: Putin Had to Have Ordered Hit on Skripals

Jonathan Allen testified that assassination attempt on ex-spy, daughter was 'a warning' from Russia

(Newser) - While America celebrated Thanksgiving, the UK's senior official responsible for Russia policy was testifying across the pond about the assassination attempts against former spy Sergei Skripal and daughter Yulia Skripal . Among the biggest revelations from Jonathan Allen, who spoke in London at the inquiry into the 2018 Novichok poisonings:...

Drones Snooped on US Base in Virginia for 17 Straight Days
Drones Visited Air Force Base
for 17 Straight Nights
in case you missed it
Oct 19, 2024 2:00 PM CDT

Drones Visited Air Force Base for 17 Straight Nights

Pentagon doesn't know who was behind the mysterious visitors to Langley

(Newser) - The Wall Street Journal has a strange scoop involving Virginia's Langley Air Force Base. It seems that in December of last year, a sophisticated fleet of drones flew over the base for 17 straight nights—and the military was powerless to stop them. Were they the work of China?...

Russia Is Really Cranking Out the Spying Charges

Prosecutors seek 39-month sentence for French national Laurent Vinatier

(Newser) - Prosecutors asked a Russian court on Monday to deliver a prison sentence of three years and three months to a French citizen arrested on charges of unlawfully collecting information on military issues. Laurent Vinatier, who was arrested in Moscow in June, earlier admitted guilt, setting the stage for a fast-track...

Russia Boots 6 UK Diplomats for Spying

Britain denies espionage accusations, calling them 'completely baseless'

(Newser) - Russia on Friday accused six British diplomats of spying and said it decided to expel them, an announcement that comes as tensions between Moscow and the West grow during an intensified push by Ukraine to loosen restrictions on using weapons provided by the US and Britain to strike Russia. Russia'...

Sons: Memo Proves Ethel Rosenberg 'Wasn't a Spy'

Document from what later became the NSA indicates she did not engage in husband's work

(Newser) - A top US government codebreaker who decrypted secret Soviet communications during the Cold War concluded that Ethel Rosenberg knew about her husband's activities "but that due to illness she did not engage in the work herself," according to a recently declassified memo that her sons say proves...

Philippine Mayor Accused of Being Chinese Spy

Alice Guo said to be in hiding following allegations of fraud, human trafficking

(Newser) - Philippine officials are searching for a local mayor accused of being a Chinese spy. Alice Guo, mayor of the town of Bamban, has gone into hiding after refusing multiple requests to appear at investigative hearings centered on scams operating out of a casino facility "on land partially owned by...

The Secret Trial of Evan Gershkovich Has Begun

The US and 'WSJ' vehemently deny the reporter was spying

(Newser) - Fifteen months after his arrest in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg on espionage charges, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich's closed-door trial has begun. The AP reports the 32-year-old attended court in a padlocked glass defendants cage, his head shaved. Details:
  • The charges: Both the US government and the
...

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