The Greek colonel and China
===========================

The Greek colonel and China is a case John Kiriakou raised himself, having given two interviews about it to Greek outlets over the preceding weekend, and which he introduced with the apology that he was "probably the only person who's interested in this."

What was unusual

A Greek colonel assigned to NATO had been arrested and charged with espionage for China. Kiriakou is careful about which part of that is remarkable: "This is highly highly unusual in Greece. Not that somebody's been arrested for espionage. That happens quite frequently. It's almost always spying for the Russians. What's unusual is that this was the Chinese."

The change it signals

The significance Kiriakou draws is about Chinese collection priorities rather than Greek security. "There is very little there there was very little evidence when I was still in the game that the Russians I'm sorry that the Chinese gave two shits about NATO. They didn't care about NATO."

That has changed: "Now apparently they care very much about NATO because they were trying to intercept NATO's communications and to decrypt it."

The case itself

Kiriakou sets out the mechanics as reported. The colonel "immediately confessed. He said that he took an undisclosed trip to China a year ago. The Chinese recruited him there." The payment scheme was per item: "They've they were giving him 5,000 to 15,000 for every classified document he brought out."

His professional verdict is on the handling. "He communicated with them on a separate cell phone, completely unencrypted, terrible trade craft. Nothing was done clandestinely, just right out in the open." The consequence he expects: "this guy's going to spend much of the rest of his life in prison."

What it opens

Kiriakou's conclusion is that the case is a beginning rather than an anomaly. "Anyway, it brings the Chinese into into an espionage story in Europe where they otherwise haven't been before", and, asked whether more would follow, "I think so, yeah."

See also

- Greek Intelligence Service
- The Operational Test
- The Density Of Spies In Washington
- Espionage Act
