On Wednesday morning, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Judge T.S. Ellis III presided over opening arguments in the espionage trial of former U.S. intelligence officer Kevin Mallory. Last summer, a grand jury returned an indictment against Mallory for turning over classified information to aid a foreign power in violation of the Espionage Act and lying to the FBI about it.
It’s not every day that an accused spy sees his day in court—such cases rarely go to trial.
Mallory is a 61-year-old former employee of the CIA, DIA, State Department and U.S. Army, who held a top-secret security clearance that terminated at the end of his government service in October 2012. He is fluent in Mandarin and has been stationed in countries including Iraq, China, and Taiwan. . . .
Operative: I suggest you send all and retype the handwriting. And NO1 is obvious the first page of a complete article, where the else is and why it is black on top and bottom….We will try our best to apply for another sum of amount, as you required. However, I’m not sure it will be the same amount for now and I will try, and for safety, we cannot send u in one time or in a short period altogether, need to figure out a better way.
Mallory: The black was to cross out the security classification (TOP SECRET//ORCON//…I had to get it out without the chance of discovery. Unless read in detail, it appeared like a simple note…I have arranged for a USD account in another name. You can send the funds broken into 4 equal payments over 4 consecutive days…When you agree I will send you the bank E.g. instructions.
It was dicey (look it up) when they asked for me by name. If they we looking for me in terms of State Secrets, and found the SD card…, we would not be talking today. I am taking the real risk as you, [PRCS], and higher up bosses know… “When you get the OK to replace the prior payment, then I will send more docs. I will also type my notes. NOTE: In the future, I will destroy all electronic records after you confirm receipt…! Already destroyed the paper records. I cannot keep these around, too dangerous.
Mallory: [Y]our object is to gain information, and my object is to be paid for.
So in an excerpt played in a Virginia federal court Friday, jurors heard Mallory giving his son a series of indirect clues, probing him for a list of what FBI agents seized when they raided his home a day earlier.
Agents turned Mallory’s bedroom closet inside out until finally an officer found a ball of tin foil concealing a Toshiba 32GB SIM card.
According to prosecutors, the card held nine documents, all of which contained classified or top secret information about U.S. defense programs and operations, including information about how U.S. intelligence agencies communicate or demarcate sensitive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act documents.
Prosecutors say a former CIA case officer betrayed his country by giving a Chinese spy information about human assets and other top-secret information in exchange for $25,000.
But defense lawyers say their client is a loyal American who was merely stringing the Chinese along to try to get them to expose details of their own intelligence operation.
A jury heard opening statements Wednesday in the trial of Kevin Mallory, 60, of Leesburg, who was working as a self-employed consultant when he returned from Shanghai with more than $16,000 in undeclared cash.
Defense attorney Geremy Kamens said Mallory had grown suspicious about a Chinese think tank’s job offer and hatched a plan to feed them phony documents. He told people at the CIA, but prosecutors said that was just to cover his tracks.
Prosecutors showed the interrogation video of an ex-CIA officer accused of espionage in court Friday.
Prosecutors say 61-year-old Kevin Mallory of Leesburg, Virginia, sold secret documents to the Chinese for $25,000 last spring. Mallory claims his meeting with the Chinese was about his consulting business.
During the interrogation, Mallory explained to investigators his consulting work with Chinese researchers, which is how Mallory said they represented themselves to him.