RMA Presents “Intelligence Threats to the US, from the French to the Chinese and More, Plus Anecdotes from a 32 Year Career “
By Retired Men’s Association of Greenwich
On October 16 Jerome Coleman introduced the Retired Men’s Association speaker, David Hunt. Coleman first announced that this talk would not be recorded, and that any members of the press should treat the remarks as the off-the-record. However, Mr. Hunt explicitly authorized this summary of his talk for publication in Greenwich Sentinel.
David P. Hunt is a retired senior officer with 32 years’ service in CIA’s clandestine service. He served extensively overseas with tours in Italy, Vietnam, Somalia, Norway, and France as well as New York City, serving as chief of station in Mogadishu and New York. He also served in the US Army, and spent a year in Korea with the Counterintelligence Corps. He is considered an expert in Soviet operations, European affairs, and counterintelligence. He holds the Donovan Award for Excellence and the Distinguished Intelligence Medal, CIA’s highest career award.
Hunt began by saying that he would speak about intelligence issues in several countries with which he has career experience, including China, France, and Somalia. The saying goes that all politics are local. But sometimes, distant events actually affect us. For example, last year, a high-altitude surveillance balloon from China floated over the US. Recently, Linda Sun, deputy chief of staff to Governor Kathy Hochul of New York State was charged with acting as an undisclosed foreign agent of the Chinese government.
Hunt reviewed key moments in his career, starting with China. For the last 20 years, we have felt that we needed China as a buffer against Russia but those days are over. The Chinese have systematically tried to exert influence over American politicians, inviting them to visit China. For example, the Democratic candidate for VP has been to China over 30 times. You can imagine that he will not want to insult his hosts there. Both William Cohen, former Defense Secretary, and Madeline Albright, former Secretary of State, headed consulting firms to facilitate American business operations in China. And, vicariously of course, effectively lobbying for the Chinese in Washington. The book “Blood Money” by Peter Schweizer documents that the Biden family received $30 million dollars from China. The Chinese have bought US businesses and encouraged them to move to China. The academic community is also a target. Professors have been invited to China and they avoid criticizing China lest they not be invited back.
Espionage has become a serious issue. China has stolen the technology used in our Patriot missiles, stealth aircraft, our “quiet” submarines, and our littoral ships. Chinese scientists who visit our national laboratories move back and forth to China, enabling them to report their findings to Chinese laboratories. There has been little criticism of China for the flow of fentanyl across the southern border. China has hacked into personnel files of US government employees. The Germans estimate that about 30 thousand approaches have been made to German scientists from China. In other words, our open society has been a bonanza for the Chinese and others as well.
In France under DeGaulle, the French carried out “bag” operations. If you left a briefcase in your hotel, personnel would open your bags and photograph the contents. This practice became public with the sabotage of the Rainbow Warrior, a Greenpeace ship, by French intelligence agents. A French journalist actually exposed on French TV the existence of bag operations, which were occurring from ten to fifteen times a day in the large French hotels. Large American companies, particularly those involved in technology, IBM and Texas Instruments, for example, were particularly targeted. Penetrations of these companies were also discovered. These employees were brought back to the US for “consultations,” confronted by the FBI, confessed, and were fired. In 1989, General Vernon Walters, who had served as Defense Attache in Paris in the early ’70’s, was sent to Paris to complain about these activities to President Mitterrand. The operations stopped for a few months, then resumed. There were about 180 companies that did business in France and CIA lunched a program to warn them all to protect their proprietary information.
In the 1960s the Cold War was raging. As an example of a “walk-in,” a way that CIA acquires valuable information, in February 1968, a young Army General on the Czech General Staff defected to us in Italy with two bags of Top-Secret Warsaw Pact documents. These were a bonanza to the US Intelligence Community. These days it is even easier with email.
Hunt said that he was chief of station in Somalia from 1973-75. It was a period of airplane high jackings and other terrorist attacks against the West. In Somalia the US had a very small diplomatic presence. After the Yom Kippur War, at a diplomatic reception, he was berated by the Egyptian Ambassador, in the company of four other Arab ambassadors, because the US had supported Israel during the war. At a dinner later on, the Syrian ambassador severely criticized a French diplomat for French colonial atrocities. These incidents indicated a severe deep-seated resentment against particularly the French and the British, which, over time, has come to include the United States. These are attitudes which are unlikely to change anytime soon.
In response to audience questions, Mr. Hunt said that business people who are conducting international trade need to think more about the national interest and less about their personal interests. The Chinese treat visiting journalists very well and make it clear what subjects they should not write about, such as Taiwan autonomy, human rights, fentanyl. As for the CIA, it is a very tightly run, disciplined organization, under the command of the president of the United States. Regarding the Russian gas pipeline sabotage, Hunt understands that, according to recent press reports, the Ukrainians were responsible. This seems plausible to him. He does not see how the Ukraine war will end; Biden seems to be over-constraining the Ukrainian military, and Trump seems to be too cozy with Putin.
Video of this week’s presentation is not available.
The RMA’s upcoming presentation, “ZERO POINT FOUR: The Critical Role and Vulnerabilities of U.S. Maritime to our National Security,” by Carleen Lyden Walker, is scheduled for 11 AM on Wednesday, October 30, 2024. Carleen Lyden Walker will address the critical role that maritime shipping plays in today’s world economy and its relationship to the U.S. economy and national security. Just after WWII over half the world’s ocean-going commercial ships flew the U.S. flag. Today it is less than 0.4% (“zero point four”). Ms. Walker will speak about how a lack of maritime preparedness creates vulnerabilities to our national economy – through energy, food, climate, workforce and military readiness and flexibility. She is the co-author of “ZERO POINT FOUR — How US Leadership in Maritime will Secure America’s Future.” She is consistently listed among the top 100 women globally in maritime expertise.
Ms. Walker is a marketing and communications professional in the commercial maritime industry. She is founder and CEO of Morgan Marketing & Communications, co-founder and CEO of the North American Marine Environment Protection Association, chief evolution officer of SHIPPINGInsight (the fleet optimization and innovation platform for shipping) and the founder of the Consortium for International Maritime Heritage.
In 2015, Ms. Walker was appointed a Goodwill Maritime Ambassador by the International Maritime Organization. She is a member of numerous maritime associations and a trustee of the US Friends of the World Maritime University. In 2010, she was awarded the Certificate of Merit by the United States Coast Guard and in 2014 a Public Service Commendation for her work on World Maritime Day and the AMVER search & rescue system, respectively. In March of 2023, she received the Distinguished Service Award from the Coast Guard for her work in the field.
Ms. Walker graduated from Wellesley College with a BA in political science and history and studied accounting at Cornell School of Business Administration.
She is a trained facilitator and media trainer and held a USCG Captain’s license.
To stream the presentation by Carleen Walker at 11 AM on Wednesday, October 30, click on https://bit.ly/30IBj21. This presentation will also be available on local public access TV channels, Verizon FIOS channel 24 and Optimum (Cablevision) channel 79. The public is also invited to attend the presentation in person at the First Presbyterian Church of Greenwich at 1 West Putnam Avenue.
Note: The views expressed in these presentations are those of the speakers. They are not intended to represent the views of the RMA or its members.
RMA speaker presentations are presented as a community service at no cost to in-person or Zoom attendees, regardless of gender. Any member of the public who would like to receive a weekly email announcement of future speakers should send a request to members@greenwichrma.org. The RMA urges all eligible individuals to consider becoming a member of our great organization, and thereby enjoy all the available fellowship, volunteer, and community service opportunities which the RMA offers to its members. For further information, go to https://greenwichrma.org/, or contact members@greenwichrma.org.
