MSA WORLDVIEW 18 AUGUST 2020
Jeff Johnson
President at Summit Solutions Group | Summit Point Training Facility | Motorsports Park | Driving business growth through customer relationships.
On Friday 67-year-old Alexander Yuk Ching Ma, a former officer with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), was arrested on charges that he conspired with a relative who also served in the CIA to send top-secret classified information to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). According to a criminal complaint unsealed yesterday morning, Ma and an unidentified relative conspired with each other and multiple Chinese intelligence officials to transfer classified national defense information for almost a decade. Official reports say the criminal acts allegedly began with a series of meetings in Hong Kong in March 2001, where the two men would provide information the PRC intelligence service "about the CIA’s personnel, operations, and methods of concealing communications." Court documents say Ma confirmed his espionage activities after an undercover agent from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) posed as a Chinese intelligence agent and offered Ma $2,000 in cash. Ma was officially charged with conspiracy to communicate national defense information to aid a foreign government and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.
Domestic
Former CIA Officer Arrested and Charged With Espionage
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/17/politics/former-cia-officer-charged-with-espionage/index.html
At Least Three injured in Shooting at San Antonio Flea Market
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/san-antonio-flea-market-shooting-at-least-3-injured/
How the COVID-19 Pandemic and George Floyd Protests Could Give Rise to Terrorism
NYPD to Announce Formation of Asian Hate Crime Task Force
International:
Israeli Planes Bomb Gaza for Seventh Straight Night
Rafik Hariri Tribunal: Verdict Due Over Assassination of Lebanon Ex-PM
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-53601710
Sudan, Major Rebel Group Sign Deal to Integrate Rebels Into Army
Sudan Protests Mark One Year Since Post-Bashir Deal
https://www.france24.com/en/20200817-sudan-protests-mark-one-year-since-post-bashir-deal
U.S. Intelligence Indicates Iran Paid Bounties to Taliban For Targeting American Troops in Afghanistan
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/17/politics/iran-taliban-bounties-us-intelligence/index.html
Rocket Attack in Kabul Wounds at Least Ten, Triggers Embassy Lockdowns
Gunmen Kill Son of Legendary Mexico Drug Capo Amado Carrillo
Coronavirus in Europe: France Extends Mask Use as Greece Says it is in Second Wave