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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Spycraft, a podcast that tells gripping life and

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<v Speaker 1>death spy stories and the amazing devices and operations that

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<v Speaker 1>made them possible. Now let's get started.

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<v Speaker 2>Universities have been having a lot of trouble of late,

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<v Speaker 2>and it continues. A CCP agent impersonated at Stanford student

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<v Speaker 2>under the Elias Charlie's Chen Charles Chen. He approached several

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<v Speaker 2>students to social media, and a Stanford student conducting sensitive

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<v Speaker 2>research on China began receiving unexpected messages from Charles Chen.

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<v Speaker 2>At first, Charles's outreach scene Benine he has about networking opportunities,

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<v Speaker 2>but soon his messages took a strange turn. Charles where

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<v Speaker 2>their Anna spoke Mandarin, and then grew increasingly persistent and personal.

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<v Speaker 2>He sent videos of Americans who had gained fame in China,

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<v Speaker 2>encouraged Anna to visit Beijing, and offered to cover her

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<v Speaker 2>travel expenses. He sent screenshots of a bank account Bounce

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<v Speaker 2>to prove he could buy the plane tickets, and alarmingly,

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<v Speaker 2>he referenced details about her that Anna never disclosed to him.

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<v Speaker 2>He advised her to anser China for only twenty four

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<v Speaker 2>one hundred and forty four hours short enough, he said,

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<v Speaker 2>to avoid visa scrutiny by authorities, and urged her to

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<v Speaker 2>communicate exclusively via the Chinese version of we Chat. Its

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<v Speaker 2>platform is heavily monitored by the CCP. When Charles commented

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<v Speaker 2>on one of her social media posts asking her to

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<v Speaker 2>delete screenshots of their conversations, she knew this was serious.

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<v Speaker 2>Under the guidance of experts familiar with espionage tactics, Anna

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<v Speaker 2>contacted authorities their investigation of you that Charles Chinna no

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<v Speaker 2>affiliation with Stanford. Instead, he had poses a Stanford student

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<v Speaker 2>for years, slightly altering his name and persona online, targeting

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<v Speaker 2>multiple students, nearly all of whom were women researching China

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<v Speaker 2>related topics. According to the experts in China who assisted Anna,

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<v Speaker 2>Charles chen was likely an agent of the Chinese Ministry

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<v Speaker 2>of State Security tasks identifying sympathetic Stanford students in gathering intel.

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<v Speaker 2>Stanford's president, doctor Jonathan Levin, received a letter from the

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<v Speaker 2>Select Committee on the CCP detailing the security risks China

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<v Speaker 2>poses the stem research for years. Concerns about Chinese espionage

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<v Speaker 2>have quietly persisted at Stanford throughout our investigation, they said, Professors, students,

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<v Speaker 2>and researchers readily recounted their experiences of Chinese spy, yet

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<v Speaker 2>the decline to speak publicly. Once student who experienced espionage

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<v Speaker 2>firsthand was too fearful to recount their story, even via

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<v Speaker 2>encrypted messaging. The risk is too high, they explained. Transnational repression,

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<v Speaker 2>sixty four million dollars in Chinese funding and allegations of

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<v Speaker 2>racial profiling are contributed to a pervasive culture of silence

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<v Speaker 2>at Stanford. By the way, this is coming from the

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<v Speaker 2>Stanford Review dot org website. It is this pervasive silence

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<v Speaker 2>that has compelled us to write. After interviewing multiple anonymous

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<v Speaker 2>Stanford faculties, students, and China experts, we can confirm that

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<v Speaker 2>the CCP is orchestrating a widespread intelligence gathering campaign at Stanford.

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<v Speaker 2>And short, there are Chinese spies at Stanford. It's not

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<v Speaker 2>only Stanford folks, They're all over the place. This is

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<v Speaker 2>what makes it very complicated because there's a lot of

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<v Speaker 2>innocent Chinese people who have nothing to do with this.

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<v Speaker 2>To investigate the concerns, they interviewed over a dozen individuals again, students, professors,

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<v Speaker 2>so forth, and experts. The majority of interviews spoke under

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<v Speaker 2>the condition of an anonymity, citing fears of retaliation from

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<v Speaker 2>both the CCP and Stanford. Under its Made in China

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<v Speaker 2>twenty twenty five, plan, China aims to unseat the US

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<v Speaker 2>as the dominant force in frontier technologies. Speaking out a

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<v Speaker 2>China Ta Hall event, the former US National Security Council

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<v Speaker 2>Director Matthew Chirpin characterized the Chinese espionage of Stanford. The

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<v Speaker 2>Chinese state incentivized the students to violate conflicts of commitment

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<v Speaker 2>and interest, ensuring they bring back technology otherwise restricted by

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<v Speaker 2>expert controls. The FBI says this is one of the

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<v Speaker 2>largest transfers of wealth and human history. When it comes

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<v Speaker 2>to theft of academic research, Stanford experts have said that

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<v Speaker 2>CCP is employed a crowdsourced approach to gathering information at Stanford,

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<v Speaker 2>dubbed non traditional collection. The Chinese ministry uses civilians unaffiliated

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<v Speaker 2>with the intelligence community to acquire and report sensitive information.

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<v Speaker 2>The aim of non traditional collectors isn't necessarily to steal

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<v Speaker 2>classified docs, but rather to quietly extract and know how

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<v Speaker 2>behind American innovation. This includes conclusions from Stanford research projects, methodology,

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<v Speaker 2>software workflow labs, things of that nature. Stanford staff has

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<v Speaker 2>said this is extensively practiced at Stanford, particularly in AI

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<v Speaker 2>and robotics. The China expert familiar with Stanford confirmed that

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<v Speaker 2>over eleven hundred Chinese international students are on campus, a

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<v Speaker 2>select number are actively reporting to the CCP, so you

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<v Speaker 2>can see it's a big problem, and this is just

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<v Speaker 2>Stanford did a great job on this. You can read

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<v Speaker 2>the whole report over at Stanford Review dot org. So

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<v Speaker 2>it's an amazing story. The Chinese Scholarship Council, which funds

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<v Speaker 2>an estimated fifteen percent of Chinese students at American universities,

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<v Speaker 2>as regarded as a primary avenue of information gathering China.

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<v Speaker 2>Experts speaking anonymously, confirmed that it required students to regularly

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<v Speaker 2>submit situation reports to Chinese diplomatic missions about their research.

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<v Speaker 2>These experts also confirm that the CCP uses these reports

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<v Speaker 2>to identify and acquire sensitive technology information. A former Edinburgh

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<v Speaker 2>University student claimed that CSC recipients from monitored by Chinese

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<v Speaker 2>handlers will require them to report a dissent and events

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<v Speaker 2>covering sensitive topics. An anonymous Stanford faculty member said that

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<v Speaker 2>if Chinese students have handlers at Edinburgh, you can be

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<v Speaker 2>assured they have them at Stanford, so again and see

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<v Speaker 2>they're really inculcated. And this is why the current administration

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<v Speaker 2>one of the reasons, I think, is really concerned about

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<v Speaker 2>certain the nationals of different countries and the universities. There's

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<v Speaker 2>a lot of information here. This isn't you. Russia has

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<v Speaker 2>been doing this for decades. Here. They had a huge

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<v Speaker 2>operation thirty years ago. You probably remember it, the married

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<v Speaker 2>couples that acted like there were grad students when they

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<v Speaker 2>were actually already PhDs. In Russia. There's a lot and

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<v Speaker 2>getting research information is huge. The case of Stanford student

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<v Speaker 2>Chen Song illustrates a very important point. The CCP demands

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<v Speaker 2>total compliance and directs individuals towards sensitive information. In twenty twenty,

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<v Speaker 2>Song was indicted for lying about her affiliation with the

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<v Speaker 2>Chinese military form of known formerly known as the PLA

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<v Speaker 2>and the charging documents prosecutor's acute Song of concealing her

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<v Speaker 2>involvement in the PLA to obtain a J one visa

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<v Speaker 2>to conduct research at Stanford. The DOJ document's alleged Song

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<v Speaker 2>sent multiple updates to a Chinese government entity detailing nature

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<v Speaker 2>results in value of her research. This is according to

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<v Speaker 2>the FBI, time and again, the Chinese government prioritizes stealing

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<v Speaker 2>US research. The case of the student this song is

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<v Speaker 2>the only well known espionage incident publicly acknowledged by Stanford

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<v Speaker 2>the least. However, according to Stanford insiders, espionage cases are

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<v Speaker 2>only disclosed to the public and extraordinary circumstances. Therefore, it

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<v Speaker 2>is Sandford's policy that have investigative authorities to maintain privacy,

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<v Speaker 2>choosing instead to cancel student visas without public notice. Hence

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<v Speaker 2>what we have going on right now. So wild story,

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<v Speaker 2>but a lot of espionage happening over there. I mean,

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<v Speaker 2>there's espionage happening in all the major universities. Stanford is

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<v Speaker 2>not an exception, so we'll wrap it up there. But

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<v Speaker 2>it's a great article. You can read more about it

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<v Speaker 2>at Stanford Review dot org.