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Beijing's Floating Spy Operation Reaches U.S. SHORES · The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson

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  Speaker 2: You're listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson.
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  Speaker 3: Good Wednesday morning. Nice to have you with us on
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  Speaker 3: the 47 Morning Update. And we've got one massive story
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  Speaker 3: for you that has a lot of tentacles. We have
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  Speaker 3: learned now about a massive Chinese spying operation. using ships
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  Speaker 3: that are looking like they're just commercial ships to spy
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  Speaker 3: on America, container ships that are owned by the Chinese government.
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  Speaker 3: How did they get busted and how much damage they
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  Speaker 3: do to the U.S.? We're breaking it all down for you.
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  Speaker 3: It's the 47 Morning Update and it starts right now.
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  Speaker 2: Story number one.
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  Speaker 3: I want to start with a really important story that
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  Speaker 3: is just broken. And it deals with China using one
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  Speaker 3: of their own companies that is a shipping company to
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  Speaker 3: spy on America. This news about China should get the
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  Speaker 3: attention of all of us because yet again, we are
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  Speaker 3: seeing just how far China will go to, well, spy
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  Speaker 3: on the United States of America.
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  Speaker 4: According to senior U.S.
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  Speaker 3: Officials, the massive Chinese state-owned shipping company known as Costco,
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  Speaker 3: not the same as a store in America, want to
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  Speaker 3: be clear about that, has allegedly been doing something far
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  Speaker 3: beyond moving container ships around the world. U.S. officials now
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  Speaker 3: say that the Chinese company Costco and their ships have
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  Speaker 3: been equipped with concealed, sophisticated, intelligence-gathering equipment. capable of collecting
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  Speaker 3: military communications near the coastlines of the United States as
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  Speaker 3: well as other nations. Now, what does this mean? Well,
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  Speaker 3: these are commercial ships. They sail into ports. They travel
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  Speaker 3: major shipping lanes. They operate legally around the world. But
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  Speaker 3: according to not one, but two senior Trump administration officials
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  Speaker 3: who spoke to Reuters, hidden aboard many of these vessels
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  Speaker 3: were sophisticated signal intelligence systems. They said deliberately designed for
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  Speaker 3: one thing, to collect information on military communications technologies and
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  Speaker 3: developments in encryption. Now, the officials said that Costco has
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  Speaker 3: maintained an intelligence collection relationship with With Beijing, we now
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  Speaker 3: have learned stretching back decades. And this isn't some tiny
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  Speaker 3: shipping operation. Costco, not only are they a Chinese state-owned
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  Speaker 3: shipping giant, but they're deeply embedded in global commerce and
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  Speaker 3: regularly calling and regularly selling into America's ports. If you've
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  Speaker 3: ever been around a major port city. You've probably seen
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  Speaker 3: the containers that have Costco on the side and the
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  Speaker 3: boats that have Costco on the side as well. Now,
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  Speaker 3: this allegation that Beijing has effectively found a way now
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  Speaker 3: to turn ordinary looking commercial vessels into intelligence platforms, well,
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  Speaker 3: is shocking, yet not really surprising. You don't need a
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  Speaker 3: ship with Chinese Navy paint across the side. And that's
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  Speaker 3: their mantra. We're going to spy on you any way
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  Speaker 3: we can. And you don't need to send an obvious
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  Speaker 3: intelligence vessel right up against America's coastline.
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  Speaker 4: No, no, no. China said, we've got you.
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  Speaker 3: We're going to send all of our container ships. It's
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  Speaker 3: going to look like commerce. It's going to behave like commerce.
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  Speaker 3: It's going to come into American ports and other ports
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  Speaker 3: around the world. Now, according to the U.S. officials, concealed
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  Speaker 3: equipment aboard these vessels can collect signals from ships and
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  Speaker 3: aircraft operating around North America, as well as Europe and Asia.
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  Speaker 3: And then the intelligence can help China understand our military communications,
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  Speaker 3: as well as our encryption, our maritime routes, and even
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  Speaker 3: provide reconnaissance and early warning regarding foreign military targets. China's embassy,
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  Speaker 3: of course, they're lying right now, categorically denying this. It
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  Speaker 3: says Beijing would never instruct a company, by the way,
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  Speaker 3: they own that company, to illegally collect intelligence overseas and
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  Speaker 3: calls the American allegations, quote-unquote, baseless. Now, let me explain
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  Speaker 3: why this story also is very telling about other things
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  Speaker 3: we know about, all right?
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  Speaker 4: This isn't an isolated incident, okay?
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  Speaker 3: Just look at what American authorities have uncovered over the
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  Speaker 3: last several years, and there's a much larger picture that
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  Speaker 3: begins to emerge when you connect the dots. They went
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  Speaker 3: after America's telephone networks. It was called Salt Typhoon. The
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  Speaker 3: Chinese government-linked hackers penetrated major telecommunications networks.
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  Speaker 4: In the U.S.
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  Speaker 3: And the FBI says the campaign resulted in the theft
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  Speaker 3: of call data logs, some private communications belonging to specifically
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  Speaker 3: targeted victims, and even copies of certain information connected to
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  Speaker 3: court-ordered U.S.
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  Speaker 4: Law enforcement requests.
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  Speaker 3: If you don't believe me, go to thefbi.gov, and they
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  Speaker 3: have the entire story. Now, there was also later reporting
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  Speaker 3: that revealed the extraordinary scope of this campaign. It reached
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  Speaker 3: more than 80 countries, and the FBI estimated that the
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  Speaker 3: intruders likely obtained money More than 1 million call records
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  Speaker 3: and targeted calls and text messages belonging to more than
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  Speaker 3: 100 Americans. Now, keyword targeted. So the 100 people they
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  Speaker 3: got the info on, they wanted that info. They wanted
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  Speaker 3: it badly. And that's exactly.
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  Speaker 4: What they got.
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  Speaker 3: Now, think about how valuable that intelligence could be if
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  Speaker 3: you're targeting 100 people on purpose. Who are they calling?
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  Speaker 3: When they're calling? Where people are moving? Who is the
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  Speaker 3: United States government investigating? What communications are American law enforcement
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  Speaker 3: trying to intercept? Now, this isn't stealing someone's, like, Netflix password.
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  Speaker 3: This is hardcore intelligence collection. Then there was Vault Typhoon.
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  Speaker 3: This is another one you probably never heard about, and
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  Speaker 3: it may have been even more frightening. American intelligence and
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  Speaker 3: cybersecurity agencies concluded at the time that the Chinese state-sponsored
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  Speaker 3: Volt Typhoon hackers successfully infiltrated America's critical infrastructure networks. Now,
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  Speaker 3: we're talking about communications networks, energy networks, transportation networks, water
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  Speaker 3: and wastewater system networks as well.
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  Speaker 4: Now, this isn't a guess. This actually happened. And U.S.
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  Speaker 3: Agencies assessed with high confidence that this wasn't simply traditional espionage.
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  Speaker 3: They said the hackers were pre-positioning themselves inside American networks
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  Speaker 3: so they could potentially disrupt critical infrastructure in the future
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  Speaker 3: with it being a major attack. Again, all of this
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  Speaker 3: is coming from the FBI.gov. Now, I want you to
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  Speaker 3: just think about a scenario. Imagine a real confrontation over Taiwan.
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  Speaker 3: America begins moving forces into the Pacific, and then suddenly
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  Speaker 3: utilities experience problems in the U.S., Then transportation networks are disrupted.
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  Speaker 3: Then communication systems are hardcore attacked and shut down. Then
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  Speaker 3: our water infrastructure starts having problems. That's why this is
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  Speaker 3: different from just simply stealing secrets or spying in general.
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  Speaker 3: This is about creating the ability for China to cause
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  Speaker 3: chaos inside the United States of America during a future conflict. Now,
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  Speaker 3: the FBI, under multiple administrations, Republicans and Democrats in charge,
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  Speaker 3: have said China's hacking program is larger than that of
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  Speaker 3: every other major nation in the world combined and estimated
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  Speaker 3: that Chinese hackers outnumber FBI cyber personnel by at least
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  Speaker 3: 50 to 1. And just last week, there was another
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  Speaker 3: massive Chinese hacking operation.
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  Speaker 4: You probably didn't hear about it.
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  Speaker 3: On August 26th, the Justice Department announced that it had
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  Speaker 3: disrupted another Chinese-linked full-blown operation.
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  Speaker 4: Now, the targets.
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  Speaker 3: Now, think about how brazen you have to be if
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  Speaker 3: you're China to do this. They targeted the Justice Department, NASA,
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  Speaker 3: the Federal Reserve... The United States Senate, the Department of Energy,
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  Speaker 3: Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, defense
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  Speaker 3: contractors with big contracts with our military, financial institutions in
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  Speaker 3: the U.S., and American universities. Now, again, according to the
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  Speaker 3: Justice Department, ask yourself, why didn't you hear about this
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  Speaker 3: in the media? by a Chinese-based company whose customers included
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  Speaker 3: China's Ministry of State Security and the People's Liberation Army.
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  Speaker 3: The campaign had been operating without us knowing about it
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  Speaker 3: since at least 2018. And the government said some intrusions
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  Speaker 3: resulted in actual stolen data. So within the span of days,
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  Speaker 3: Americans have now learned about one alleged Chinese operation reaching
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  Speaker 3: deep into government computer networks since 2018. And then another one,
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  Speaker 3: another intelligence program operating from commercial ships off the coastlines
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  Speaker 3: and in our ports. China has also targeted the U.S.
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  Speaker 3: military from the inside as well. And this isn't theoretical either.
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  Speaker 3: Earlier this year, former U.S. Navy sailor, a guy by
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  Speaker 3: the name of Wee, was sentenced to 200 months, more
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  Speaker 3: than 16 years, in federal prison for spying for China.
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  Speaker 4: Wee served aboard the USS Essex in San Diego.
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  Speaker 3: And according to the Justice Department, A Chinese intelligence officer
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  Speaker 3: recruited him, and we ultimately provided thousands of pages of
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  Speaker 3: technical and operating information involving American Navy warships. And if
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  Speaker 3: you think it costs a lot of money to turn
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  Speaker 3: somebody against the U.S., apparently it doesn't, because we was
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  Speaker 3: paid about $ 12, 000. That's it for selling American military secrets.
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  Speaker 3: And according to evidence presented at trial, we himself recognized
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  Speaker 3: what was happening. He told another sailor he believed he
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  Speaker 3: was dealing with a Chinese intelligence organization and understood that
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  Speaker 3: what he was being requested to do certainly looked like espionage.
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  Speaker 3: Yet he continued. He was eventually convicted of espionage and
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  Speaker 3: other crimes. And there was also another Navy sailor, another
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  Speaker 3: guy by the name of Zhao, who admitted to receiving
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  Speaker 3: nearly 15,000 in bribes from a Chinese intelligence officer.
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  Speaker 4: And what did China want? Sensitive military information.
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  Speaker 3: Zhao admitted transmitting that information that included details about American
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  Speaker 3: military exercises.
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  Speaker 4: And operational security.
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  Speaker 3: Prosecutors said the material included information concerning naval force movements,
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  Speaker 3: and our landings, maritime operations, and logistics. All of this
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  Speaker 3: from the Justice Department. Now, this is exactly what China
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  Speaker 3: is good at. This is how hardcore they're going after
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  Speaker 3: the United States of America. And if you want one
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  Speaker 3: more example of just how bad it's gotten, you have
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  Speaker 3: an alleged attempt to recruit more American military personnel just
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  Speaker 3: last year. The Justice Department charged not one but two
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  Speaker 3: Chinese nationals in a Ministry of State Security operation. Authorities
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  Speaker 3: said the men participated not only in an intelligence gathering
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  Speaker 3: involving U.S. Navy personnel and bases, But they helped facilitate
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  Speaker 3: a $ 10, 000 cash dead drop and participate in efforts to
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  Speaker 3: identify and recruit American military personnel as potential Chinese intelligence assets.
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  Speaker 3: One allegedly visited a naval installation in Washington state and
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  Speaker 3: a recruiting center in California. According to the government, information
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  Speaker 3: on Navy recruits was also collected and transmitted to the
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  Speaker 3: Chinese intelligence operation. So we're no longer simply talking about
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  Speaker 3: China trying to hack computers from thousands of miles away.
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  Speaker 3: American authorities are now saying, listen up. This is a
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  Speaker 3: full-blown operation designed to recruit human beings inside our government,
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  Speaker 3: inside our military installations, and spying on us at every level,
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  Speaker 3: including now using their own Chinese cargo ships to gain
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  Speaker 3: intelligence information about our military operations.
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  Speaker 4: Now, how did this go on for so long? It's
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  Speaker 4: pretty clear.
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  Speaker 3: The prior administrations either knew about it and looked the
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  Speaker 3: other way and didn't care, or they were asleep at
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  Speaker 3: the wheel for a long time since at least 2018.
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  Speaker 3: Thank goodness President Trump now has actually made this a priority.
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  Speaker 3: And those in our government are going after the people
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  Speaker 3: that are betraying us each and every day. So welcome
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  Speaker 3: to what warfare looks like in 2026. One thing is
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  Speaker 3: for sure, the president's doing exactly what he needs to
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  Speaker 3: to protect America and put us first.
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