Washington Times/Inside the Ring, 2 Sep 2010: Talk about a spy coming in from the cold. When the air outside starts to get a bit frosty this November, former CIA Director Michael Hayden will be enjoying warm sea air in the Caribbean, along with dozens of other former spies.
Mr. Hayden has signed on as the top attraction for the “SpyCruise®,” an annual charity boat trip begun in 2002 to raise money for the CIA Officers Memorial Foundation and the Scott Vallely Soldiers’ Memorial Fund.
“I think the one tie that binds our passengers together and spurs them to sail with us is a continued interest in national security matters, a desire to listen to and learn from real experts and without a doubt, patriotism,” former CIA officer Bart Bechtel, who serves as “SpySkipper,” told special correspondent Rowan Scarborough.
Spies as celebrities seems to draw a cruise crowd. “To many passengers, this is a great opportunity to meet and network with experts and like-minded individuals and businessmen while discussing national security matters, as well as relaxing on a Caribbean cruise after the November elections,” Mr. Bechtel said.
Cost ranges from $1,000 to $2,700 per passenger, depending on the stateroom selected. Speakers receive expenses only.
Another former CIA director, Porter Goss, also will be on board. His lecture: “Radical Fundamentalism and (Judeo-Christian) Western Civilization Are Irreconcilable.” Mr. Hayden’s lecture will be “Iran’s Pursuit of Nukes and War on Terror: Continuity, and Change Between the 43rd and 44th Presidents.”
“This is the first with such high-level folks,” Mr. Bechtel said.
AFP, 2 Sep 2010: A Lebanese Shiite cleric known as a critic of Syrian-backed Hezbollah has been arrested in Syria on suspicion of spying for Israel, a high-ranking Lebanese security official said on Thursday. “Sheikh Hassan Msheymish was arrested in July in Syria based on data Lebanese police intelligence had sent to Syrian authorities indicating that he was implicated in collaborating with Israel,” the official told AFP. Msheymish was still being interrogated by Syrian authorities as preliminary information gathered by Lebanese intelligence indicated he may have spied on targets in Syria, the official said. . . . .
Washington Post/SpyTalk, 2 Sep 2010: The U.S. government is trying to deport Li Fengzhi, a veteran Chinese intelligence agent who defected here in 2004, back to China, where he could well be executed on charges of treason, he and others said in interviews. The reasons for the government’s six-year-long opposition to Li’s application for political asylum, entangled in spy wars and layers of secrecy, are not easily discerned.
Li became an officer in the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) upon graduation from college in 1990, according to his application for political asylum. In 2003, the spy agency sent him to the University of Denver to pursue a PhD in international politics and diplomatic philosophy, during which time he began to voice his criticism of the Chinese Communist Party.
During a trip home, Chinese security agents harshly interrogated him about his views. When he returned to Denver, he decided to apply for political asylum, on the basis that his increasingly outspoken views would subject him to retribution if he were forced to go back. But he did not reveal his identity as a Chinese intelligence officer at the time, he said. His application was initially denied.
Two years later, petitioning again for asylum, Li volunteered to an immigration official that he had not mentioned that he had been an intelligence officer of China. Nor had he volunteered that, “because of the difficulties I had and the great danger to my family that I felt in those days, I decided to ask the CIA and FBI for help….” In fact, Li was extensively debriefed by the FBI and CIA, he and others familiar with his case said.
But neither agency has stepped forward to help keep him from being deported, he and the others said. Although individual FBI agents were supportive of him, one source said, the bureau officially played down his intelligence value. “Just getting verification that he worked with them has been an enormous task,” said the source. Neither agency could be reached for comment. Rumors about Li’s exact relationship with the CIA and FBI abound. . . . .
DOJ, 1 Sep 2010: A former chemist for a northwest suburban paint manufacturing company pleaded guilty today to theft of trade secrets, admitting that he stole numerous formulas and other proprietary information valued up to $20 million as he prepared to go to work for an overseas competitor.
David Yen Lee, formerly a technical director in Valspar Corp.’s architectural coatings group since 2006, admitted using his access to Valspar’s secure internal computer network to enter databases containing trade secrets and to download approximately 160 original batch tickets, or secret formulas, for paints and coatings. He also obtained raw materials information, chemical formulas and calculations, sales and cost data, and other internal memoranda, product research, marketing data, and other materials from Valspar’s offices in Wheeling.
Lee, 54, formerly of Arlington Heights and currently of Jersey City, N.J., pleaded guilty to one count of theft of trade secrets after being charged in early 2009. U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman set sentencing for Nov. 23. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or gross loss resulting from the offense. A written plea agreement contemplates an advisory federal sentencing guideline range of 57 to 71 months in prison. The court also must order mandatory restitution.
According to the plea agreement, between September 2008 and February 2009, Lee negotiated employment with Nippon Paint, located in Shanghai, China. On Feb. 27, 2009, Lee accepted employment with Nippon as vice president of technology and administrator of research and development beginning on April 1, 2009, in Shanghai. Lee purchased a ticket to fly from Chicago to Shanghai on March 27, 2009. He did not inform Valspar that he had accepted a job at Nippon until he resigned on March 16, 2009.
At Valspar, Lee’s duties included scouting new paint technologies, coordinating with other paint laboratories, coordinating staffing and projects with Huarun Limited, a Valspar subsidiary located in China, and overseeing Valspar’s technical service group, which conducted experiments for paint coloring.
Between November 2008 and March 2009, Lee downloaded technical documents and materials belonging to Valspar, including the paint formula batch tickets. He further copied certain downloaded files to external thumb drives to store the data, knowing that he intended to use the confidential information belong to Valspar for his own benefit. The total value of the trade secret information Lee took is estimated at between $7 million and $20 million, the plea agreement states.
The guilty plea was announced by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of Federal Bureau of Investigation. The government is being represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Romero.
AP, 1 Sep 2010: A New Jersey man who was a chemist for a suburban Chicago-based paint company has pleaded guilty to stealing trade secrets. Federal prosecutors say 54-year-old David Yen Lee of Jersey City, N.J., pleaded guilty Wednesday. They say he admits to stealing formulas and information that was valued at up to $20 million. He formerly was a technical director at Valspar Corp. Prosecutors say Lee stole the information from Valspar as he was preparing to work for a competitor in China. Lee formerly lived in Arlington Heights. Federal officials say he stole secret formulas for paints and coatings from Valspar’s offices in Wheeling.
Jersey City man admits stealing paint formulas and trade secrets worth up to $20 million (NJ Star-Ledger, 2 Sep 2010)
A Jersey City man who was a chemist for a suburban Chicago paint company has pleaded guilty to stealing trade secrets valued at up to $20 million. Federal prosecutors say 54-year-old David Yen Lee pleaded guilty Wednesday to stealing formulas and information from Valspar Corp., where he formerly worked as a technical director. Prosecutors say Lee stole the information from Valspar as he was preparing to work for a competitor in China. . .
Ex-Valspar Worker Admits to Stealing Trade Secrets From U.S. Paint Maker (Bloomberg, 1 Sep 2010)
. . . . According to court papers, Lee, who holds a doctorate in chemistry, worked as a technical director at the Wheeling, Illinois, facility of Minneapolis-based Valspar from 2006 to 2009, when he left to take a job in Shanghai with Osaka, Japan- based Nippon Paint Co. Nippon Paint wasn’t a defendant in the case. When he was arrested in March 2009, Lee had a pocket-size computer “thumb drive” containing Valspar data in his possession, federal agents said. The information he took is worth $7 million to $20 million, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Romero told Gettleman today. . . . .
Chemist pleads guilty to stealing secret paint formulas (ABC7, 1 Sep 2010)
. . . . David Yen Lee, who served as technical director for Valspar Corporation’s architectural coatings group since 2006, admitted using his access to a secure internal computer network to enter databases containing trade secrets. He then downloaded about 160 secret formulas for paints and coatings, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s office. Lee also took raw materials information, chemical formulas and calculations, sales and cost data, product research, marketing data and other materials from Valspar’s offices in Wheeling, the release said. . . .
. . . . According to the plea agreement, between September 2008 and February 2009, Lee negotiated employment with Nippon Paint in Shanghai and on Feb. 27, 2009, accepted a job as vice president of technology and administrator of research and development. He purchased a ticket to fly from Chicago to Shanghai on March 27, 2009, but did not inform Valspar of his new job until he resigned on March 16.
Between November 2008 and March 2009, he downloaded technical documents and materials belonging to Valspar and copied them to external thumb drives, the release said. The total value of the information is estimated at between $7 million and $20 million, the agreement states.
FORMER PAINT MANUFACTURING CHEMIST PLEADS GUILTY TO STEALING TRADE SECRETS VALUED UP TO $20 MILLION (DOJ press release, 1 Sep 2010)
