Tiger Trap

February 14, 2011
Wise (Spy) leads readers into the "the wilderness of mirrors that is counterintelligence" for this history of Chinese espionage against the U.S. He reveals how Chinese intelligence has used ethnic Chinese in the U.S. to penetrate American counterintelligence and steal American nuclear weapons data. While Wise explores a spectrum of Chinese spying efforts, from Sun-Tzu's The Art of War to cyberspies, he homes in on two sensational cases, code-named Parlor Maid and Tiger Trap, that epitomize their tactics. Parlor Maid was the colorful Katrina Leung, a Chinese-American double agent who slept with her FBI handlers while stealing their secrets, and Tiger Trap refers to the FBI's operation to expose China's moles inside America's nuclear weapons labs. Wise's conclusion is sobering—"China's spying on America is ongoing, current, and shows no sign of diminishing"—and his book is a fascinating history of Chinese espionage that should appeal to a diverse readership.

July 1, 2011

Wise (Spy: The Inside Story of How the FBI's Robert Hanssen Betrayed America) explores the spying by China on the United States since 1985, arguing that China's efforts are very different from traditional Cold War spying, glamorized over the past 50 years. Money and sex are not the main ways that China manipulates and motivates spies. Rather, in thousands of contacts with students, tourists, trade delegations, and visiting scientists, the Chinese intelligence agencies patiently emphasize appeals to personal relationships (guanxi) and ask these contacts to help China better itself. Not only does this create many thousands of potential spies, but there are few simple "just follow the money!" pathways for U.S. agents to use to track and uncover the networks. Through recounting U.S. counterintelligence operations, Wise provides scintillating and embarrassing details of counterintelligence failures and shows how China has penetrated many secret U.S. programs. He also demonstrates that complacency might be the biggest enemy of U.S. security and counterintelligence efforts. VERDICT Wise's readable and well-researched book is an early effort on a topic that will be important for decades and a must-read for anyone interested in this subject. Highly recommended.--Mark K. Jones, Mercantile Lib., Cincinnati, OH

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