Senator Chuck Grassley, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is looking for answers from the FBI and CIA about how they handled the case of a former CIA official who may have given the names of CIA operatives to the Chinese government. Grassley and other members of Congress are asking why it took the FBI more than five years to arrest the former official.
Jerry Chun Shing Lee, is accused of revealing the names of CIA informants to the Chinese government, helping them dismantle one of the U.S.’ most valuable intelligence networks. It’s considered one of the U.S. intelligence community’s worse failures in years.
The FBI found notebooks containing the real identities of CIA informants and undercover agents in Lee’s possession back in 2012. But the FBI didn’t apprehend Lee until this past January when he traveled back to the U.S. from Hong Kong to visit with his family. Lee has been living in Hong Kong for a number of years but has traveled back to the U.S. several times during that time.
Lee worked at the CIA from 1994 until 2007. Former coworkers say he left the agency unhappily after his career stalled.
In a statement, Grassley expressed concern about why the FBI took so long to attempt to bring Lee to justice. “It’s disturbing to learn that the FBI was suspicious enough of Mr. Lee that they interviewed him five times in 2013. And yet the U.S. intelligence community has seen counterintelligence assets blown,” Grassley said.
It’s been learned that the FBI never followed up aggressively on a warning from a former employer of Lee’s in Hong Kong – himself a former U.S. intelligence official – that Lee was exhibiting highly suspicious behavior such as contacting China’s security services and complaining vociferously about his former employer, the CIA.
Lee appeared in Brooklyn federal court last month after he was arrested and is being transferred to Alexandria, VA, this week where federal charges against him have been filed.