Operation "Tiger Trap"

Operation "Tiger Trap" (after which the book is titled) is another CI operation bungled by the FBI in which the guilty culprit once again got away with nuclear secrets. One successful operation was launched against CIA traitor Larry Wu-Tai Chin who, after spying for the Chinese for 30 years, finally made a mistake that led to his arrest. He was successfully prosecuted and committed suicide in prison. Several other cases are described with varying degrees of success.

Perhaps the most troubling of all is the chapter on the silent, ongoing cyber espionage wars launched by the Chinese against the U.S. and the West. This new undeclared cyber warfare proves, once again, that "the end of history" mentality that prevailed immediately after the collapse of Soviet communism is dangerous to our security. China's invisible and up to now invincible cyber spies are described in great detail, revealing chilling information that few Americans understand. Wise elucidates the serious menace posed by the computer hackers, the new breed of cyber spies, that the Chinese have unleashed against America, not only against U.S. agencies but also various targets from the Pentagon to vulnerable state and municipal infrastructures, from computer networks to energy sources and water supply.

In 2006, Peter Yuan Li, a Chinese-American computer technologist in Atlanta, Georgia, was beaten by a gang of Asian men and his computer stolen. Li had tried to expose China’s cyber attacks on U.S. agencies. The attacks persist and this year a headline in the BBC (January 14, 2013) clamored: " 'Red October' Cyber-attack found by Russian Researchers," and a cyber expert commented, "Viewpoint: Stuxnet shift the cyber arm race up a gear." What the articles failed to say is that the main culprit is China, probably followed by Russia. So Western experts are finally taking notice, and at least the BBC is reporting the dangerous trend.

Unless the U.S. and its allies rise to the challenge this up-to-now silent but ominous Chinese cyber attacks portend a dark future for the survival of freedom.

After reading Tiger Trap, one cannot help but wonder how America prevailed over the Soviets in the 20th century — and now, more apropos, how it will survive the Chinese onslaught of conventional, as well as cyber espionage or the possible cyber wars of the future, wars that may be fought with computer hackers sitting quietly at their computer terminals wreaking havoc and mayhem, even death and destruction, on the West in the 21st century! Knowledge is power, and this excellent book provides at least introductory knowledge to a subject of which Americans up to now have been blissfully ignorant. This book can be at times exasperating, frequently thrilling, but in the end it is a disturbing wake up call to action. I avidly recommend it.

Written by Dr. Miguel Faria