• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Kevin Mallory: The churchgoing patriot who spied for China

TU Curmudgeon

B.A. (Sarc), LLb. (Lex Sarcasus), PhD (Sarc.)
DP Veteran
Joined
Mar 7, 2018
Messages
62,465
Reaction score
19,290
Location
Lower Mainland of BC
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Centrist
From the BBC

Kevin Mallory: The churchgoing patriot who spied for China

US officials say China is trying to influence US policymakers, steal secrets and spy on the US government. But how? The story of Kevin Mallory, a man who seemed to lead a typical suburban life in Virginia, provides the answer.

FBI agents pointed their weapons at Jeremiah Mallory, a teenager standing in the doorway of his house one morning in June 2017, and told him to get on his knees.

"They've got guns in his face," says Patsy Clark, a family friend. They were looking for evidence against his father, Kevin Mallory, a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer who had been spying for the Chinese government.

One of Mallory's neighbours, a dog walker, was heading down the block: "All of a sudden I hear this yelling."

The roar of helicopters woke another neighbour, Delrose Winter, who says she saw police cars and black vans at the house. Cameron Norris, a student who lived nearby, saw dogs searching the yard and FBI agents carrying boxes: "They were taking equipment out - a computer."

FBI agents searched Mallory's house, a place with a red banner covered in Chinese calligraphy that hung alongside the front door, his yard and, according to neighbours, a bridle path where he used to go on runs. His street in Raspberry Falls, a Leesburg subdivision, looked like a war zone, with helicopters circling in the air and armed men charging through the grass.

COMMENT:-

In some countries the arrest would have been effected by a single (two, at the most) police officer walking up to the suspect and saying "You are under arrest for. Please come with me.".

But this way makes for MUCH better "Prime Time TV" and REALLY helps with the presentation to support your agency getting a bigger slice of the budget pie.

HOWEVER, that isn't the point of the article, the point is two-fold:


  1. ANYONE is "vulnerable" to the right approach; and
  2. "conducting espionage" is something that governments (including the American governments) have done since Hector was a pup and are going to continue doing until the heat death of the Universe (or "The Second Coming" - whichever comes first).

 
Choppers? Really? Was this guy a severe flight risk? Or was this a show of force?

I wonder just what exactly this guy was doing...we will likely never know. And THAT...should scare every American.
 
Choppers? Really?

But this way makes for MUCH better "Prime Time TV" and REALLY helps with the presentation to support your agency getting a bigger slice of the budget pie.

Was this guy a severe flight risk?

He didn't even know that he was suspected.

Or was this a show of force?

Political theatre that makes for MUCH better "Prime Time TV" and REALLY helps with the presentation to support your agency getting a bigger slice of the budget pie.

You couldn't get someone to come out and record the whole thing if they knew that what was going to happen was one agent, wearing a suit, was going to arrest some guy sitting in his backyard.

I wonder just what exactly this guy was doing...we will likely never know. And THAT...should scare every American.

The odds that telling the American public what secrets Mr. Mallory "sold" to the Chinese is NOT going to give the Chinese much information that they don't already have/suspect. Even if the American public is NOT told what secrets Mr. Mallory "sold" to the Chinese, the Chinese are going to make the perfectly rational assumption that it is no longer a secret that they possess those secrets AND that both the US and Chinese governments are going to adjust their plans accordingly.
 
Back
Top Bottom