Well, that’s embarrassing! With all the talk about Russian collusion, people have taken their Russian-obsessed eyes off of other countries that could also pose a threat to national security.
It’s being reported that Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) had a Chinese spy in her employ for “nearly 20 years.” According to CBS 5 - San Francisco, the discovery was made five years ago, but information is just trickling out now.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported:
According to a Politico Magazine story on Silicon Valley espionage, the Feinstein staffer was suspected of providing political intelligence — but nothing classified — to his handlers, with one former intelligence official telling author Zach Dorfman that the suspected informant was “run” by officials based at the local Chinese Consulate.
A local source who knew about the incident confirmed to us that the FBI showed up at Feinstein’s office in Washington, D.C., about five years ago to alert the then-chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee that her driver was being investigated for possible Chinese spying.
Even though the reports are saying that the intelligence provided by the Chinese spy was “nothing classified,” there should’ve been some sort of safeguard in place for situations like this. Despite the spy’s reported lack of security clearance, how do we absolutely know that classified information wasn’t shared with the Chinese government?
However, the Chronicle did report that the staffer might not have known that they were being used as a spy. Supposedly, the staffer had taken a trip to “Asia” to see relatives and “was befriended by someone who continued to stay in touch with him on subsequent visits.”
The problem was that the friend had connections to the People’s Republic of China’s Ministry of State Security. Whoops!
None of this necessarily means that Feinstein or the staffer intentionally colluded with the Chinese contact. The FBI allegedly came to the conclusion that the staffer didn’t reveal any pertinent information.
If this story teaches anyone anything, it’s that you should be wary of “befriending” people you don’t know in foreign countries that are even somewhat adversarial to the U.S.
Just because someone at some point in their life had contact with a person from a questionable foreign land, it doesn’t mean that they’ve colluded to sell the U.S. down the river. Sometimes, they're being duped, and they don't even know it.