Amerikansk journalist erkänner sig skyldig till att ha agerat som kinesisk agent | NTD NYHETER

An American journalist pleading guilty today to acting as a foreign agent of China. As intelligence agencies from the United States and its allies warn Beijing is increasingly using online recruitment tactics to obtain sensitive information. NTD's Arlene Richards reports. Intelligence agencies from the United States and its closest allies are warning that Chinese intelligence services are increasingly using fake recruiters and online job offers to target people with access to sensitive information. The Chinese Communist Party is the number one national security threat to the United States. The warning comes as federal prosecutors pursue a Virginia case involving journalist Thomas Palkin II, who is scheduled to appear in court Thursday for a plea agreement hearing on allegations that he acted as an unregistered agent for China. According to court documents, prosecutors allege that Palkin worked with individuals linked to China's intelligence apparatus and sought to obtain information from a U.S. government employee. Authorities say he prepared reports for Chinese contacts and attempted to cultivate access to government information. Investigators claim Palkin confessed during voluntary FBI interviews that his activities formed part of a conspiracy to obtain classified information from the United States government. The Joint Security Bulletin warns that Chinese intelligence officers increasingly pose as recruiters, consultants, or researchers online, offering paid assignments that can gradually evolve into requests for sensitive or classified information. Targets include military personnel, government employees, think tank researchers, academics, and journalists. When individuals either leave the military or leave the different intelligence agencies, they're looking for opportunities to try to either recruit these individuals or gain some type of intelligence. Officials say the warning reflects growing concern that China is combining traditional human intelligence operations with online recruitment tactics to obtain political, military, and economic information from Western countries. The Chinese Communist Party will stop at nothing to try to garner any type of intelligence or classified information that they can of our secrets. Arlene Richards, NTD News. And worth mentioning, Palkin is scheduled to be sentenced on September 1st and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.