2. The Spy’s Diary

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A few quick notes before we get started. It's customary in Chinese for family names to come before given names, so with Shoe yan June, Shoe is his family name and Yan June is his given name. But almost everyone we spoke to and almost every document we reviewed for this story referred to him as Shoe, So for simplicity, you'll hear us do the same for him and for a few others. Also, the series includes material originally written and spoken in Chinese. At various points you'll hear actors

When Jordan and I first started going through the documents of this case, we saw a bunch of the usual things we'd expect, trial testimony, emails, that kind of stuff, but one thing really stood out. Remember, Shoe Yan June is a spy working for one of the most secretive agencies in the world, China's Ministry of State Security, so it was surprising to come across something much more intimate, something that made us feel like we were inside his head.

June eleventh morning, eyeglasses prescription much safe. So the whole family worshiped the Buddha at Jamie Temple until twenty ninth evening. The Fami man and his wife held banquet. April fifth morning, when we was the second one close family to sweep great grandfather's tomb.

Shoe Yen June had an online calendar where he put his appointments in.

This is Bradley Hall, the lead FBI agent on the shoe Yan June case.

At the end of the day, he would take little notes to himself about what happened that day. Sometimes it was related to source meetings. Sometimes it was related to work conflicts. Sometimes it was about his wife or his child, or the apartment that he wanted to buy.

July fifteenth, afternoon, Chase the house signed the contract. May twenty fifth morning, Family day at the shell Shell's kindergarten. Hike to the Jing Mountain. June twenty fifth, afternoon, meet out music festival.

She goes to a music festival. Shoe eats lobster. She takes his grandfather car shopper. Shee wins money at cards.

Lay cards one fifteen hundred.

Shee loses money at cards, lost the seven hundred. Shee loses more money.

At cards nineteen fifteen, last seven hundred, last twenty one hundred, last one fifty, last six hundred.

She seems to have been pretty bad at cards.

So it was every little piece of his life that he very diligently put down in textual form for us.

It was a diary.

It was a diary.

November sixteenth afternoon, watched Interstellar with John Nae. October thirty, first evening, karaoke November twenty eighth, after dinner for massage. February seventeenth evening, dined with John Howell. Three rounds of drinks puked.

There were highs and lows, and we saw all of them.

March to third. Grandfather passed away at ten forty pm.

He's a complicated fella, would be the simplest way to put it.

He has a misuse.

He likes to gamble, he likes to womanize.

She was married, but wasn't the most faithful husband.

I don't remember how many girlfriends we identified, but there were quite a few.

One of them starts to dominate his diary around this time. He refers to her with an Emoji A Peach.

December thirty's evening Peach the beginning Wanda Huts. On June twenty ninth evening Peach twenty second afternoon picked up the Peach need the shelter and to give the date of August the seventh, when in karaoke afterwards, Peach was drunk and took her home in septem twenty noon Peach Nanjin Hotel.

The details of she's personal life are pretty juicy, but what's even more incredible is that this spy meticulously documents his work life too.

March fourteen, sixth bureau meets. January twenty fourth, held banquet with comrades of Aerospace team. November twenty fifth, worked overtime until two thirty eight, and Many thirteenth Pawnee comedian meeting. You're eleventh Matt G. Chowtree, March thirty first, Aviation briefing August to twenty fourth. My official promotion came. Waited for too long. It finally came. Took a load off my mind.

It's normal enough to keep a diary, but shees recording things that are supposed to be secret, deniable things about his job and how he does it. It's an actual spies diary, and we got our hands on.

It from Bloomberg News and iHeart Podcast. This is the sixth Bureau.

I'm Jordan Robertson and I'm Drake Bennett.

As by agencies go. China's Ministry of State Security is unique. First of all, it's massive. Estimates we've heard put it at hundreds of thousands of employees. It's way bigger than the FBI and the CIA combined, and it has an additional job. But those agencies don't industrial espionage stealing stuff from companies instead of governments.

It wasn't just military information, it wasn't just US political information. They wanted trade secrets, they wanted everything.

This is Matthew Mackenzie, a federal prosecutor on the shoecase.

Everyone does espionage, but not every country uses their intelligence apparatus to steal commercial trade secrets. That is beyond the norms.

Technically, this is correct. The CIA and FBI don't steal trade secrets, but the US government does have a history of it. In the late seventeen hundred, right after independence, the US offered bounties for anyone who could smuggle out loom designs from British cotton mills. Those mills had been built thanks to plans stolen from Italian silk spinners, an industry that Italians essentially stole from China centuries before. Fast

But one key area where they haven't is aerospace, building planes and helicopters and jet engines that other countries want to buy. That's where the MSS comes in. In particular one of its divisions, the sixth Bureau. Chu Yan June worked there on a team tasks with stealing the secrets of the world's top aviation companies.

Everything in China is a top down approach, right. It is an edict from the government that we are going to make our own regional airliners, so we can stop buying from Boeing and stop buying from goe We're going to make our own domestic product.

And Shu yan June's job is to work with engineers from China's state owned aerospace companies and get them exactly what.

They need because they're the ones who are actually trying to build the plane.

Which brings us to a recording that Shoe secretly made in twenty seventeen.

My favorite part of the entire case.

He's recording a talk by a man named Arthur Gao. This is the engine power.

Therefore you have to do the power interrupt tests and EMI lightning.

Arthur Goo was an engineer at the American company Honeywell. He worked on advanced technologies for both civilian and military aircraft.

For control systems of helicopters, there are two very important issues. One is a rotodynamics, you have to take it into account.

Arthur is originally from Taiwan, and he came to the US in the late seventies to get his PhD. He eventually wound up at Honeywell in Phoenix. He's been invited to China to give this talk in what was described as an academic exchange with the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. But when he got there, he wasn't brought to a university to give his talk. He was brought to a hotel room inside only a few people were there.

Arthur thinks he's talking to all of these academics and students in It turns out that there are no academics, there are no students.

They are MSS officers posing as people who work in the industry. There are also Chinese engineers, employees of China's state owned aerospace conglomerate AVIK, there to learn what they can from Arthur about his work at Honeywell.

In particular the combat aircraft systems that Honeywell builds for the United States military.

These are all military standards.

They have very detailed regulation. Arthur talks to the group for about three hours.

And At the conclusion of his presentation.

FBI agent Bradley Hall, Shoe.

Engineer, thanks him. They go through all the niceties and then they ask Arthur to step out of the room.

Tuj Gal, maybe you can't head back first, Thank you so much.

Arthur walks out of the room, leaving Shoe and the engineers alone. But the tape keeps rolling, and there's this amazing kind of easter egg. You know that narrative convention in movies and TV, where near the beginning of a story, some new character shows up and someone else has to explain to them, and by extension you the audience how everything works and who everyone is. Think Peggy Olsen's first day on the job in Madmoth.

Now, this is the executive floor.

It should be organized, but it's not.

So you'll find account executives and creative.

Executives all mixed together.

Please don't miss the difference.

Great, Hopefully you follow my lead.

What we hear next on the recording is exactly that for Shoe's world. You hear someone take a sip of a drink and put their mug down on the table. You hear the door close behind Arthur, and then she turns back to the group of Chinese engineers.

She and June starts describing how the MSS recruits Western experts, how they operate them, and how they found Arthur so that he could teach them about what the Americans were doing with their helicopters.

She wants to know how the engineers think Arthur will be most useful to them, what kind of source he may be, So he lays out the different types of sources he brings in like a taxonomy of spies. Let's say he walks them through it.

There are a few aspects to all collaborations.

He actually has what he calls four levels of expert participation. The first level are high ranking experts.

This expert is ranked highly and is reliable. The expert can directly participate in the design of the project.

These are folks who have direct involvement in design both in the West and in Chinese systems. They have access to class out information in China and their long term sources as in These are the people that they keep on the books for fifteen twenty years and they call them in when they need them.

This is our highest level of collaboration.

A lot of the stories you hear about China. Stealing trade secrets involve hacking, breaking into computer systems, but spying's ultimately about something way more ordinary, cultivating relationships or using people.

They invite people over under some kind of innocent sounding pretext.

This is James Olsen.

We'd like to invite you to China to give a guest lecture or to meet with our experts, just for a get acquainted a session, and we will compensate to you for that. There will be a stipend and we will cover all your expenses. And most people fall for it.

James knows this because he was a.

Spy in the Central Intelligence Agency for thirty one.

Years, eventually the agency's chief of counterintelligence. So James has a pretty good idea of what a spy like shoey On June does, and he says, there's kind of a universal playbook on how to do it.

It sounds cynical, but in the intelligence profession, we know that every human being has needs, and our job in intelligence is to identify what your need is. And our hope is that need is so compelling, so urgent, so important for you, that if we satisfy that need, you will assist us. You will violate your own country's laws. You will give us technology. It sounds terrible, but we are in the business of exploiting your weakness, your needs, your vulnerabilities, and we're good at it.

Sometimes exploiting vulnerabilities as a matter of carots, but sometimes it sticks.

People fear the MSS. Generally, they will put that in the frame of your family back in China is dependent on the government, and we would not want to do anything to make their life more difficult.

I've seen cases where family members are arrested. I've seen cases where family members are sent by the MSS to deliver messages to people in the United States see either get in line or come back to China to face whatever consequences there are for them there.

We don't know exactly why Arthur Gou did what he did. We tried multiple times to contact him for this series, but we never heard back. We also reached out to his former employer, Honeywell. They never responded. But we do know that when the MSS came calling, it was hard for Arthur to say no, and they came calling more than once. That talk in the hotel room wasn't a one off. The MSS first targeted Arthur two decades before.

The first invitation came to Arthur in nineteen ninety seven from someone at the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics or NUAA. You're going to hear NUAA a lot in this series because its staff worked really closely with the MSS.

They allowed themselves to be used as cover to invite and to host foreign visitors so that they can assess them, wine them and dying them, develop them when they're making their trips to China. So it's a very very valuable relationship in the mssies.

So the invitations from NUAA kept coming, and Arthur gou kept accepting them. He'd come give a talk, there'd be fancy meals, luxury cruises down the Youngs River, all expenses paid trips to visit tourist attractions. Then after he got home from a trip in two thousand and three, his contact followed up asking for very sensitive information. Arthur seemed to get suspicious and he cut things off. That worked for a while. The MSS, though, could be patient, like

Come fries it has been eleven years.

He mentions things about Arthur's personal life that only a friend should know.

I heard that you had a son recently. Congratulations.

He wishes Arthur's family a happy New Year, stay healthy, and invites him to return to China. If I were Arthur, I'd be creeped out, so he replies, but he doesn't commit to another trip.

Two years later, in twenty sixteen, John nudges him again. This time Arthur caves. He tells Joe that he does have a trip to China coming up, a personal trip to see some friends. Jaw offers to pick him up at the Beijing airport. In the car, he introduces a supposed university colleague, it's actually shoe Yen June. During that visit, John Hue come up to Arthur's hotel room late at

He said, he may retire in two years or so. He also wants to write he has the ability, he is competent, he has a desire to achieve something. We can also design it that way.

Arthur Goud. He was the longest running assets in the case. I mean he what twenty years. What does he represent to you in terms of, you know, this organization's ability to run people for a long time.

Both the long term nature of the operation and then the significant amount of damage that can happen over that timeframe. Bradley Hall with Arthur's example, when he did choose to disclose, he disclosed things that could hurt us. The helicopter that the Marine Corps is going to fly, the next level helicopter, there's no reason that the Chinese government needs to know

In twenty twenty one, Arthur Goo was indicted and pled guilty to exporting controlled information without a license. He was sentenced to three years probation in order to pay a fine. Okay, back to Shoo's taxonomy of the types of sources he recruits. Level one is kind of like having someone who works for you directly over a period of time. Level two that's more like having a consultant who's on call for specific one off jobs.

These are folks who examine specific models, they solve problems. They usually come to China for a one month period, but fairly when frequently because they are working in companies in the West.

If we have specific questions, we can't ask them. For instance, if we come across any problems in the project, we can present them with the questions directly in a very specific effession.

Level three that's even less of a commitment.

The third level he called topical experts. These are individuals who answer questions in person only or they provide reports that they only come into China for very very short durations of time because they're experts in their field back in the West, and it would be unusual or raise concerns if these people stay there for more than a week or a weekend or something like that. Shee indicated that this was the most common type of source, that he is an individual ran.

This is something we've done quite a lot in the past.

Arthur Goo was probably a level three. So is a man named Lee Young about meeting with Lee in his diary.

April twentieth afternoon, pick up Lee from train station, check in Too Jinging hotel.

We don't know that much about Lee Jong, but we do know that he was an expert on fighter aircraft and how to make them like the Lockheed Martin F thirty five, which is one of the world's most advanced fighter jets. We also know that when Shoe invited Lee to come give a talk in Nanjing, the MSS officer used in alias. When Lee arrives in April twenty fourteen, Hue and Jah Rong host a banquet in his honor.

There's a level of rapport building. There's a level of whining and dining that's often involved with this, but it's not just.

About rapport building. During the banquet, Shoe's colleagues sneak into Lee's hotel room and try to hack into his computer, but they run into problems and they can't get everything they want, so they invite Lee back a few months later for another visit. They want him to give a talk about electric takeoff and landing systems, and they want to take another crack at hacking into his laptop.

December seventh, d Jones coming to Nanjing entertaining.

Shoe brings lead to the hotel. Lee drops his stuff in his room and then heads off to dinner with Shoe's boss, Joe Wrong, who's waiting for him in a private dining room.

I'm in the private room and the dishes have been order.

Then Shoe and another colleague go to Lee's room to try and hack into his computer again. At six forty nine pm, Shoe texts his.

Boss laptop but you're seeing sleepmoat one partable hot drive and then two small drives.

The hack is taking longer than expected, and his boss gets impatient.

It's too slow.

Spit it up fifteen minutes later.

If it doesn't work, copy it with your own computer.

Now it's eight thirty nine pm. The operation has been going for almost two hours. Shoe updates his boss.

The copying will more or less be done in fifteen minutes. Restoring the scene and documents who will take roughly twenty minutes.

Hurry up, hurry up, because remember, Shoe's boss Jah Wrong is having dinner with Lee, and even a fake honorary banquet can only go on for so long.

Finally, the cabbing is completed, restoring is in progress.

After two hours and twenty two minutes, Shoe's.

Done restored, exiting.

You can let him toddle back up to his room. At this point.

The next day, Lee gives his talk totally clueless. He's been hacked. We were never able to reach Lee Gum. As far as we know, he was never charged with any crimes.

The fourth and final level of Shoes experts are called spotters.

So these are people that we have living in the West whose job it is to identify engineers who might be susceptible for working with the MSS.

These people are crucial for Shoe because they live in places like the US, places that are too risky for Shoe to go. Gi Chao Chun, the guy who was secretly recorded by the FBI in Chicago, G was a spotter. G was first approached by the MSS back in Beijing. It was twenty twelve. He was about to graduate from college and he was checking out a job fair on campus. He'd also applied to some grad schools in the US to get a master's degree in engineering. He wasn't sure

He indicated that they wanted to train me to do things on their behalf because they are not able to leave the country.

G was a perfect candidate for the sixth Bureau. He was already planning to go to the US for legitimate reason an engineering program, and so didn't need a cover, and he was psyched to be a spy. Once the MSS came clean about who they really were, he was all in. He got into a university in Chicago, signed official paperwork with the MSS, moved to the US, and got to work.

His job was to provide background information and hopefully some assessment information on Chinese Americans who were working in high tech companies the United States.

Former CIA Chief of Counterintelligence James Olsen.

He was fired up. He really wanted to do this. It's kind of fun being a sply.

And G had fun, a little too much fun. In twenty fourteen, he reaches out to a friend he knows from China. The friend is studying aeronautical engineering in Washington, DC. G wants his help finding potential sources, and he starts off by texting a photo of a bunch of one hundred dollars bills. It's operating fun from shoe Yan June, who's now his handler.

Hucker, are you even there to photograph this? Photograph this? Sneakily delete after you see it.

Then G eventually gets down to business in his own way.

Fuck you ask around for me. Your school does anyone study engines or aircraft design? Yes, that's the major. I'ming help me out and befriend people in the field. When does spring break start? I'll give you funds for asshole.

Yeah, halfway half to like him, you know. He flashed the money around. He bragged about what he was doing. He loved being kind of a boy.

Spy, you know.

And that's exactly what he was, a boy spy. I mean, imagine being fresh out of college and doing this job. You might act a little reckless too. And when you look at gez texts from around this time, you're like, oh right, he is still a kid. Take these messages with his dad.

Dad is good c cucumber available now?

Asking him for advice at the market.

Only dried ones in this season. Good wines are available all the time, but no fresh ones in this season. Do the dry ones?

The last updating him on his travel through customs. Got it.

Put away your belongings, put on your slippers, and take a nice rest after you bought the plan, baby, do your best.

And and the money he gets from the MSS I received.

Six thousand, that is good. Stay safe, be vigilant, Try to understand others' agenda when you interact. Be grateful in US dollars, not remen b.

These texts with his dad are all in twenty fourteen. A year later, Ji gets another text from Shoe, are you there?

I have a favorite to ask.

I'm here. Please go ahead, brother, Shoe.

Here are three websites look up with these people separately.

These people being engineers at Boeing, Lockey, Martin, Nasa, and Ge, all of whom were born in either China or Taiwan, and we're working in the US. She wants background checks on them, home addresses, phone numbers, who they're married to, sensitive stuff.

A fee is required for the search, and he needs to be paid using a foreign visa card.

Okay, I'll give it a try.

A week later, G sends you the background checks he bought on the internet. He puts a password on the file, zips it, and gives it a cheeky code name Midterm Exam Paper.

Honestly, these background checks, they're a small job for a rookie For now. G's pretty low down in shoes taxonomy, but it seems like he's trying to rise through the ranks and make himself more valuable to the MSS. After he completes grad school, G enlists in the US Army as a fast track to get American citizenship and a security clearance. So he may be young and reckless, but he's also pretty strategic. He has potential. The MSS is

At the end of the day, we're all serving the state. We're all serving the state, right everyone, we all share the same go.

That recording was almost dumb luck. I cannot believe they didn't turn that recording off before they dropped their pretenses. It really shines the spotlight on Chinese tradecraft.

Shoe and the engineers. Is Boss joh wrong? Even the sources he's handling, g Chao Chun, Arthur Goo, Lee Giong. They're cogs in this giant machine. The talks at n Uaa, the hacking, the carrots, the sticks, the cash. This is what that machine looks like from the inside. So yeah, she is this cog, but this is also his life.

On the next episode, what about spy so vice.

There's no question, there's no question, you know, and it's John.

Reject AMW received today. An ungrateful person like him has no shame. I would have my revenge.

He would have an amazing case and get a beautiful end of the year review and then be crushed a week later because a decimal point was wrong on a receipt. So that that yo yoing between your great and you're terrible clearly was having an impact on his state of mind.

When Chiu saw Jang's LinkedIn profile, he said, Bingo Jack bought exactly what they want, and I'm going to go get it,