A map of China is seen through a magnifying glass on a computer screen showing binary digits. REUTERS/Edgar Su
The Obama administration claimed that the data hacked from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) would not endanger US spies, whose personnel information is held separately from the agency. But now China indeed may be using stolen OPM data to identify US spies in Beijing.
The New York Times reported this weekend:
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 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….
[I]ntelligence 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.
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.
The director of the National Security Agency, Adm. Michael S. Rogers, alluded to that problem Thursday night during an interview at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.
“From an intelligence perspective, it gives you great insight potentially used for counterintelligence purposes,” Admiral Rogers said. “If I’m interested in trying to identify US persons who may be in my country — and I am trying to figure out why they are there: Are they just tourists? Are they there for some other alternative purpose? — there are interesting insights from the data you take from O.P.M.”
As I pointed out in the Washington Post last month, US officials were already concerned that the Chinese hack had exposed the real identities of people working for US government “freedom radio” stations, such as Radio Free Asia, who use aliases to protect themselves and their relatives back home. Beijing now may have the real identities of those broadcasters and those of their family members in China.
Now, US officials believe that the hack may have exposed the identities of our cover agents working inside China.
This is the most catastrophic cyber-attack on the US government in history. And still the Obama administration has taken no retaliatory action. On April 1, Obama signed an executive order authorizing sanctions against individuals or entities who carry out cyberattacks or cyberespionage against the United States. “Starting today,” he declared, “we’re giving notice to those who pose significant threats to our security or economy by damaging our critical infrastructure, disrupting or hijacking our computer networks, or stealing the trade secrets of American companies or the personal information of American citizens for profit.”
He still has not imposed these sanctions on Chinese officials. Meanwhile, China continues to exploit this stolen data with impunity.
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