Gordon Brown aide a victim of honeytrap operation by Chinese agents

Sunday Times ^ | 07/20/08 | David Leppard and Claire Newell

[TigerLikesRooster]

Gordon Brown aide a victim of honeytrap operation by Chinese agents

David Leppard and Claire Newell

A top aide to Gordon Brown has been a suspected victim of a “honeytrap” operation by Chinese intelligence agents.

The aide, a senior Downing Street adviser who was with the prime minister on a trip to China earlier this year, had his BlackBerry phone stolen after being picked up by a Chinese woman who had approached him in a Shanghai hotel disco.

The aide agreed to return to his hotel with the woman. He reported the BlackBerry missing the next morning.

The aide, whose identity is known to The Sunday Times, immediately reported the theft to the prime minister’s Special Branch protection team and was informally reprimanded.

A senior official said yesterday that the incident had all the hallmarks of a suspected honeytrap by Chinese intelligence. The incident will raise fresh questions about the security of sensitive official information. It follows a spate of high-profile cases where data from government departments have been lost.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Well, if it were Bill Clinton, he would have put a price tage for each security item he would surrender according to quality of services rendered.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Ping!

[FocusNexus]

“The aide agreed to return to his hotel with the woman. He reported the BlackBerry missing the next morning.”

How stupid are these high level gov officials?!

[TigerLikesRooster]

I suspect we could see it happening with U.S. gov if Obama is elected.

[Tainan]

PRC/PLA honey traps have caught a number of Taiwan officials in the last few years. They run an active game with some well-trained bait.

[shadowcat]

What a SAP!!

[shadowcat]

obama kin included!!!!!

[TheCipher]

Not very good work on the Chinese part. They should have inserted some spyware on the unit ( preferably a virus that would infect the other systems on the network ) and got it back to him before he missed it.

[Mr. K]

or maybe the hooker just stole it

[Judges Gone Wild]

Another sticky wicket!

[Carley]

No honeytrap needed with the Madelyn Halfbright crew. Didn’t they ‘lose’ seven laptops at one time?

I always suspected her buddies at State had every classified bit of information for sale to the highest bidder.

[DainBramage]

I can relate to this poor guy. I once met a girl at a beutiful girl at a party.
Ten years later I woke up and she had my house and 75% of my money and making me pay her to see my kids.

[Paladin2]

Horny trap.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I hope this won’t undermine your faith in the virtue of anonymous women you pick up in hotel discos, but she might also have been a garden variety thief. Though they usually pose as simple, honest prostitutes.

I guess the temptation was overwhelming. How could the reporter resist the urge to use the formulation, “honey trap”?

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

or maybe the hooker just stole it

It's just human nature. He couldn't resist. The reported gave in to common human frailty and succumb to the temptation to use the construction, "honey trap".

[JACKRUSSELL]

"Last week it emerged that US intelligence and security officials were debating whether to warn business people and other travellers heading to the Beijing Olympics about the dangers posed by Chinese computer hackers.

Joel Brenner, the US government’s top counter-intelligence official, warned: “So many people are going to the Olympics and are going to get electronically undressed.”"




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[em2vn]

You have several stupid standards by which to gauge him: Carter Stupid, Bush 1 stupid, Clinton stupid, Bush Redux stupid and the highest of the low, Obama stupid, even if he doesn’t get elected.

[bert]

I thought that was “being Murphied”

Perhaps she just wanted the expensive phone.

[Pikachu_Dad]

If he were gay, this wouldn’t have happened. Send gay officials next time. /s

[porter_knorr]

I’d crawl through broken glass and pay whatever it took to see my kid(s) and while I may not be happy about it or endeared towards the other parent, I’d do whatever it took to be a part of my child’s life.

It’s funny how often I see men on this forum complaining about how the ex wife took them - but seldom do they explain how they chose their ex wife and maybe (maybe not) but, if there had been better choices than just looks at a party, the ending might be different later.