According to industry insiders, China and Russia are increasingly using attractive female spies, a tactic described as ‘sex warfare,’ to target professionals in Silicon Valley. The objective is to gain access to valuable US technological secrets.
James Mulvenon, chief intelligence officer at Pamir Consulting, an advisory firm for US companies operating in China, shared his experience of being targeted by such operatives. He noted a significant surge in sophisticated LinkedIn requests from women fitting a specific profile: young, attractive, and Chinese.
Honeytrapping Silicon Valley Executives
Mulvenon recounted an incident at a business conference in Virginia where two women, identified as attractive Chinese nationals, attempted to infiltrate the event. Despite being denied entry, they possessed detailed information about the conference, highlighting the sophistication of their methods.
An industry veteran with over 30 years of experience investigating espionage in the US stated that the ‘honeytrap’ tactic represents a significant vulnerability for the nation. He contrasted this with US practices, noting that due to statutory and cultural reasons, the US does not typically employ such methods, thus giving adversaries an “asymmetric advantage” in ‘sex warfare’.
Spies Marrying Americans for Espionage
Beyond seduction, some female spies are reportedly going further by marrying American citizens and starting families. This strategy allows for long-term intelligence gathering operations.
One former counterintelligence officer, now assisting Silicon Valley founders with foreign divestments, investigated a case involving a “beautiful” Russian woman working at an aerospace company. She had reportedly attended a modeling school and a “Russian soft-power school” before disappearing for a decade, only to resurface in the US as a cryptocurrency expert. However, her true aim was to infiltrate the military-space innovation community, with her unsuspecting husband playing a role in her espionage efforts.
“Showing up, marrying a target, having kids with a target — and conducting a lifelong collection operation, it’s very uncomfortable to think about but it’s so prevalent,” the former official commented. He suggested that such pervasive tactics would make for a compelling book.
Beyond Honeytrapping: Other Espionage Methods
The experts interviewed by The Times emphasized that honeytrapping is just one of several methods employed by foreign entities to steal US secrets. China, for instance, is reportedly organizing startup competitions in America as a means to acquire business plans.
Both Russia and China are also enlisting ordinary citizens, rather than solely relying on trained spies, to target American professionals. This approach makes the espionage operations harder to detect. Individuals from various backgrounds, including academics, businessmen, and cryptocurrency analysts, have been implicated in these spying activities.
A senior US counterintelligence official observed a shift in adversaries’ tactics, stating, “Our adversaries — particularly the Chinese — are using a whole-of-society approach to exploit all aspects of our technology and Western talent.” This contrasts with the past, where intelligence operations might have focused on more conventional methods like targeting KGB agents in discreet foreign locations.