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> When he received a LinkedIn message from a Chinese headhunter. At the beginning I wondered how can the Chinese know who to contact.. On LinkedIn! Then a glim

> When he received a LinkedIn message from a Chinese headhunter. At the beginning I wondered how can the Chinese know who to contact.. On LinkedIn! Then a glimpse at the OPM data breach made my realise that the system might not be useless, but certainly dated and suitable to a very different threat model. It's not easy to update your operating procedures to an information asymmetry at your disadvantage, after decades of advantage in info gathering. Realising that, the top comment starts to make a lot more sense, even if at first sight it's potentially unrelated to the topic: they need to be much more careful about all sorts of things.

caymanjim 8y ago
Because people who worked for the CIA have resumes too. Do you think they all have cover jobs? Sure, some do, but most people don't. I've worked for a number of defense intelligence agencies. In my case, indirectly via commercial entities, but it's not hard to read between the lines. We dealt with classified information, but the fact that I worked for them isn't classified, and the nature of the projects isn't classified. I put this all on my resume, and so does almost everyone else who works in intelligence. It's just another career.
- tgragnato 8y ago
  That's the point. The US has a loose approach. China is aggressive and takes advantage of every weakness. This is not an isolated case, as you will be well aware. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/state-department-employee-arrested-and-charged-concealing-extensive-contacts-foreign-agents https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/state-department-employee-arr... https://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/15/using-china-as-an-example-f-b-i-video-warns-americans-about-study-abroad/ https://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/15/using-china-... https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/20/world/asia/china-cia-spies-espionage.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/20/world/asia/china-cia-spie... > "the country’s extensive security apparatus makes it exceptionally hard for Western spy services to develop sources there" That's why I wrote it's an asymmetry.
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caymanjim 8y ago

Because people who worked for the CIA have resumes too. Do you think they all have cover jobs? Sure, some do, but most people don't. I've worked for a number of defense intelligence agencies. In my case, indirectly via commercial entities, but it's not hard to read between the lines. We dealt with classified information, but the fact that I worked for them isn't classified, and the nature of the projects isn't classified. I put this all on my resume, and so does almost everyone else who works in intelligence. It's just another career.

tgragnato 8y ago
That's the point. The US has a loose approach. China is aggressive and takes advantage of every weakness. This is not an isolated case, as you will be well aware. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/state-department-employee-arrested-and-charged-concealing-extensive-contacts-foreign-agents https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/state-department-employee-arr... https://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/15/using-china-as-an-example-f-b-i-video-warns-americans-about-study-abroad/ https://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/15/using-china-... https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/20/world/asia/china-cia-spies-espionage.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/20/world/asia/china-cia-spie... > "the country’s extensive security apparatus makes it exceptionally hard for Western spy services to develop sources there" That's why I wrote it's an asymmetry.

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