Former CIA Officer Pleads Guilty to Espionage for China

**Former CIA Officer Pleads Guilty to Sharing Defense Secrets with China**
Alexander Yuk Ching Ma, a 71-year-old ex-CIA officer from Honolulu, has admitted guilt to charges of conspiring to deliver national defense information to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), as announced by the United States Department of Justice. On May 24, 2024, Ma entered his guilty plea, acknowledging his role in a conspiracy that dates back two decades.
Court filings reveal that Ma, along with a close relative also implicated in the case, both naturalized U.S. citizens originally from Hong Kong and Shanghai, had previously served as CIA officers. With careers spanning from the 1960s to the late 1980s, both individuals had access to highly classified information through their top-secret security clearances and were bound by non-disclosure agreements to protect such intelligence.
The plea agreement details a March 2001 meeting in Hong Kong, where Ma, at the behest of the Shanghai State Security Bureau (SSSB) of the PRC, and his co-conspirator provided a substantial amount of classified U.S. defense information to Chinese intelligence. This clandestine engagement, which spanned three days, ended with the Chinese officers handing over $50,000 in cash as a gesture of compensation and an agreement to continue their illicit assistance.
In an intriguing twist, Ma sought employment with the FBI in Hawaii in 2003, a move that allowed U.S. authorities to monitor his activities closely due to their awareness of his connections to Chinese intelligence. During his tenure as a contract linguist for the FBI, Ma further engaged in espionage activities, including identifying individuals in photographs at the request of the SSSB, thereby continuing to compromise U.S. national defense information.
As part of his plea, Ma has agreed to cooperate fully with U.S. government agencies, including undergoing debriefings. The plea deal suggests a 10-year prison sentence, pending court approval, with sentencing scheduled for September 11.
This case underscores the ongoing challenges and threats posed by espionage to national security, highlighting the relentless efforts of U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies to counteract such activities. The investigation was a collaborative effort led by the FBI’s Honolulu and Los Angeles Field Offices, with the prosecution managed by both the District of Hawaii and the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.