U.S. officials concerned China can identify spies with stolen data

PanARMENIAN.Net - American officials are concerned that the Chinese government could use the stolen records of millions of federal workers and contractors to piece together the identities of intelligence officers secretly posted in China over the years, the New York Times reports.

The potential exposure of the intelligence officers could prevent a large cadre of American spies from ever being posted abroad again, current and former intelligence officials said. It would be a significant setback for intelligence agencies already concerned that a recent data breach at the Office of Personnel Management is a major windfall for Chinese espionage efforts.

In the days after the breach of records of millions of federal workers and contractors became public last month, some officials in the Obama administration said that the theft was not as damaging as it might have been because the Chinese hackers did not gain access to the identities of American undercover spies.

The records of the CIA and some other intelligence agencies, they said, were never part of the personnel office’s databases, and were protected during the breach. Officials said intelligence agencies were taking steps to try to mitigate the damage, but it is unclear what they are specifically doing.

But intelligence and congressional officials now say there is great concern that the hackers — who government officials are now reluctant to say publicly were working for the Chinese government — could still use the vast trove of information to identify American spies by a process of elimination. By combining the stolen data with information they have gathered over time, they said, the hackers can use “big data analytics” to draw conclusions about the identities of operatives, according to the NYT.

“The information that was exfiltrated was valuable in its own right,” said Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. “It’s even more compromising when it is used in combination with other information they may hold. It may take years before we’re aware of the full extent of the damage.”

The CIA and other agencies with undercover officers would be cautious about immediately withdrawing spies from China because that would raise suspicions among Chinese counterintelligence operatives.

The CIA and other agencies typically post their spies in American embassies, where the officers pose as diplomats working on political affairs, agricultural policy or other issues. The American Embassy in Beijing has long housed one of the largest CIA stations in the world, with intelligence officers gathering information on China’s political maneuvering, economic development and military modernization, the NYT says.

Several current and former officials said that even if the identities of the agency officers were not in the personnel office’s database, Chinese intelligence operatives could run searches through the database on everyone granted visas to work at American diplomatic outposts in China. If any of the names are not found in the stolen files, those individuals could be suspected as spies by a process of elimination.

Officials said it was not yet clear how Chinese officials were using — or might use — the stolen files, which include personal information gathered during background checks of government workers, many who now hold Top Secret clearances.