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Ex-CIA operative suspected of compromising US spies in China is arrested

A man crosses the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) logo in the lobby of CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia - SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images
A man crosses the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) logo in the lobby of CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia - SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

A former CIA operative has been arrested after investigators suspected he secretly helped bring down America’s network of informants in China. 

Jerry Chun Shing Lee, a 53-year-old US citizen, was intercepted after he arrived at John F. Kennedy airport in New York in the climax of a six-year investigation. 

He was charged with unlawful retention of national defence information after being previously found with two notebooks containing classified material. 

The handwritten notes reportedly included the real names and phone numbers of undercover officers as well as the addresses of covert facilities and operational notes. 

The books were discovered in 2012 but Mr Lee left the country for Hong Kong in 2013. It is unclear why he decided to return to America this week. 

The arrest, first reported by The New York Times, marks a major development in an investigation into one of America’s biggest intelligence failures in decades. 

The U.S. Capitol is reflected in the Capitol Reflecting Pool before sunrise in Washington, DC - Credit: Aaron P. Bernstein/Bloomberg
The U.S. Capitol is reflected in the Capitol Reflecting Pool before sunrise in Washington, DC Credit: Aaron P. Bernstein/Bloomberg

More than a dozen CIA informants were killed or imprisoned by the Chinese government from 2010 in a devastating take-down of America’s covert sources. 

One was reportedly shot in front of colleagues in a government building courtyard – interpreted as a message to others who had been working with the US.

The trend left US intelligence agencies scrambling to work out the cause, speculating that everything from a Chinese cyber-attack to poor field operations could be to blame. 

But Mr Lee, who joined the CIA in 1994 after a stint in the US army and left in 2007, also fell under suspicion. 

During his years at the agency he had “top secret” security clearance. He reportedly left after becoming disgruntled at his career plateaued. 

On a trip to America in 2012, FBI agents secured the right to search his luggage during hotel stays in Hawaii and Virginia, according to an account by The New York Times. 

They discovered two notebooks – one datebook and one address book - reportedly wrapped in clear plastic in his luggage. They contained confidential information. 

The FBI interviewed Mr Lee more than five times in May and June 2013 but he was never arrested, for reasons that remain unclear. Mr Lee left America later that year. 

On Tuesday, Mr Lee visited New York on an unknown trip from his home in Hong Kong and was arrested at the airport. 

A Justice Department spokesman said Mr Lee has once been “in unauthorized possession of materials relating to the national defence” - a reference to those notebooks. 

Mr Lee faces a maximum of 10 years in prison if found guilty. He made an initial appearance in the Eastern District of New York on Tuesday. 

Other government employees have been arrested over links to China in recent years. 

In March it was announced that Candace Marie Claiborne, a State Department employee, had been arrested and accused of lying to investigators over her contacts with Chinese officials. 

She was accused of having money wired into her bank account by Chinese agents, according to the criminal complaint seen by The New York Times. She is said to have pleaded not guilty. 

In June, another former CIA officer, Kevin Patrick, was charged with giving classified information to China and making false statements. He was accused of selling top secret files.

 The investigation into what happened to America’s Chinese intelligence sources has been running since 2012.