“This is what happens with spies.”

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The plan gets more complicated. Will Xu Yanjun walk away?

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A new asset, a once-in-a-career chance and a very delicate operation.

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Stealing the world’s most closely guarded technology secrets is really hard. Especially when your boss keeps rejecting your expenses.

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In Episode 2 of The Sixth Bureau, a limited-run series from The Big Take, we learn how China’s Ministry of State Security recruits experts in the West — and why intelligence officers shouldn’t keep their secrets backed up to the cloud.

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It’s an open secret that the Chinese government has engaged in a global campaign to acquire intellectual property from foreign rivals. At the center of that campaign is the Ministry of State Security, China’s elusive intelligence agency. The US has apprehended hundreds of people accused of giving information to the MSS, but the agency’s inner workings have been a mystery — until now.

Today, we’re bringing you Episode 1 of The Sixth Bureau, a limited-run series from The Big Take. The series follows an MSS intelligence officer whose mission was to acquire the crown jewels of American aerospace companies. With aliases, blackmail and the occasional break-in, he targeted corporate giants. That is, until his sloppiness — and a cunning FBI sting — led to a stunning reversal: Xu Yanjun became the first Chinese intelligence officer ever convicted on American soil.

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"This is what happens with spies."

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The plan gets more complicated. Will Xu Yanjun walk away?

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.