China Doll
Katrina Leung was a temptress, beguiled by the world of intrigue, but was she an agent of influence for Beijing, as prosecutors now charge?
"Reliable." That's when Cleveland listened to an audiotape provided by another Chinese asset and recognized Leung's voice as she told the Chinese about his trip, according to court records. He alerted J. J. Smith, who flew to San Francisco to discuss the matter and became "visibly upset." Both men flew to Washington to broach the issue with officials at FBI headquarters. Neither man, however, appears to have told the FBI that he was having sexual relations with Leung. Indeed, FBI sources say, neither knew of the other's relationship with her. Smith returned to Los Angeles and spoke with Leung about her contacts with the MSS. She admitted it, prosecutors say, adding that the Chinese knew she was an FBI asset. Smith suggested that Leung take a polygraph, but she declined. He didn't press the issue. Cleveland, court records say, "relied" on Smith to resolve the problem; Smith assured him he had. In fact, he did nothing of the kind. Instead, Smith made Leung apologize to him and Cleveland, then filed the first of at least 19 evaluation reports stating that Leung was "reliable" and that she had passed a polygraph.
Both Smith and Leung have pleaded not guilty to the charges lodged against them. Both are free on bail, pending trial next year. Prosecutors preparing the case say Leung has "a long history of lies and deception," noting that the FBI paid her over $500,000 for her information-gathering services. One of Leung's attorneys, Janet Levine, counters that Leung never passed anything on to the MSS "without the complicity and knowledge of this FBI." She said the FBI fed Leung documents to give the MSS because the bureau had deliberately set her up as a double agent. "We are confident," Levine says, "that the evidence will show that Katrina Leung is and has been a patriotic, loyal American." After her arrest, Leung's family issued an angry two-page statement accusing the FBI of a blatant "double standard." The statement said: "Their people in Washington are orchestrating things to protect their own," adding that "they blame the nonagent and the foreign-born, especially the Asian, especially the woman."
Given the nature of the allegations, the Leung case is apt to set a new record for finger-pointing. "It's a sad day for the FBI," the bureau's director, Robert Mueller, said after the arrests. "Smith not only betrayed the trust the FBI placed in him; he betrayed the American people he was sworn to protect." Smith's attorney, Brian Sun, told U.S. News that his client "had every reason to believe that [Leung] was a valuable asset to the United States based upon the information and the services she provided."
Mueller did not mention the other FBI agent, Cleveland, who was involved with Leung. The fact that he has thus far avoided any legal repercussions as a result of the relationship doesn't sit well with some in Washington's close-knit counterintelligence community. A senior FBI official says that "there's no indication" Cleveland gave Leung secrets, adding that the relationship was "strictly sexual," and confirmed that Cleveland recently submitted to a polygraph exam about the nature of his involvement with Leung, which found no evidence of deception. When Cleveland was in charge of security at Lawrence Livermore, however, he was polygraphed and asked, among other things, whether he had had any contacts with foreign agents. Cleveland, sources say, aced the test. Prosecutors say Cleveland lied repeatedly to FBI agents in interviews this year about the length of his affair with Leung; it was not until his fourth interview that Cleveland admitted the relationship had gone on and off for at least seven years--not three, as he first stated.
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