How the Chinese Exploited the Shady Relationship Between US Spymasters and Google

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/google-glass-chinese-spies



Silicon Valley is now ground zero of the biggest espionage struggles facing the United States since the height of the Cold War. The glitzy suburbs between San Francisco and San Jose are filled with agents playing a cat-and-mouse game over stealing high-tech secrets after the Chinese accomplished what the Soviets only dreamed of.

In 2009, China hacked into Google to see which of its spies were known to the FBI by tracing secret FBI data requests. Two years later, China hacked into RSA, a company hired by defense contractors to encrypt their computers and stole detailed plans for major U.S. weapons systems including new fighter planes, worth trillions, and critical domestic infrastructure including gas pipelines.

The military hardware thefts have been called the largest transfer of intellectual property " in history" by top national security officials and arguably are a bigger intelligence failure than al-Qaeda's attacks on September 11, 2001.

They are now front-page news as President Obama plans to meet China’s president on Friday. The White House's press briefings say cybersecurity will be discussed, but do not mention the military secrets thefts. Instead, the briefings make it sound as if the only issue is stealing the newest consumer products. They do not mention what Obama will say in response.