

US hacked Pacnet, Asia Pacific fibre-optic network operator, in 2009 - teawithcarl
http://scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1266875/exclusive-us-hacked-pacnet-asia-pacific-fibre-optic-network-operator

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opinali
[http://msl1.mit.edu/furdlog/docs/cnn/2005-02-18_cnn_optical_...](http://msl1.mit.edu/furdlog/docs/cnn/2005-02-18_cnn_optical_taps.pdf)

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gwgarry
China would be fucking stupid to hand Snowden over to US authorities. Just
like the US encourages dissenters to take refuge in the US, China should do
the same. If you don't agree with your government and want to air their dirty
laundry, we will give you amnesty. This would be good for the world as a
whole.

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eclipticplane
It can't be coincidence that the most recent dumps of information from Snowden
concern Hong Kong specifically. I have to wonder if he is floating information
to prove to Hong Kong/Chinese officials that he has more information to broker
safety/asylum.

~~~
kposehn
Snowden seems to be making fairly adept strategic moves that were planned well
in advance, while simultaneously pushing his information to be considered
factual without much evidence (that I have seen) outside his testimony. The
media is lapping up what he states with little, if any, validation. Of course,
as is the nature of leaks, the information is often impossible to fully
validate.

There is some speculation that he was actually turned by the PLA prior to
leaking and is providing them an excellent platform to exert pressure on
Obama.

Obama did, after all, add the Chinese hacking attempts to the agenda of his
summit without consulting them, an extremely rude (to the Chinese) maneuver.

If there is any conspiracy here, it is most likely China making an extremely
effective effort to make Obama pay for their loss of face.

~~~
caf
If the Chinese had a source in Snowden's position, it does not seem credible
that they would voluntarily burn him just to cause some temporary domestic
embarassment for the US President.

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kposehn
If Snowden were indeed turned, his position would likely be of less value than
another much more highly placed source. The M.O. of the Chinese Intel
community is to both gather as much information as possible, while also
providing opportunities to pursue their foreign and domestic policy goals.

Snowden nicely fits the foreign policy goal and his position was not one of
extreme privilege. He may have also provided all of his value in his placement
and now is serving a different purpose.

This isn't unusual; the USSR had many highly trained agents inserted into
Germany during the Cold War who were placed specifically to be burnt in times
of crisis or when it suite them - this exact scenario.

~~~
samstave
This is really interesting. Can you expound on this?

What is your personal opinion of the probability of Snowden being an asset to
the Chinese?

Clearly the USG has their best minds on the permutations of probability here.
What is the likelihood that Snowden is not making these strategically sound
moves on his own?

What is the likelihood that Snowden IS, in fact, masterfully playing this
situation.

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croikle

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TomaszZielinski
What about things like
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_submarine_cable_disruption](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_submarine_cable_disruption)
?

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weitzj
I once read a story that it should be possible to hook into a transatlantic
fiber optic cable using a submarine. But I do not know if that would actually
be feasable since you probably would like to save some of that data and there
ain't much room in a submarine.

~~~
alexqgb
It's entirely possible. And the USS Jimmy Carter - a sub with smaller subs
inside - was designed to do exactly that.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Jimmy_Carter_(SSN-23)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Jimmy_Carter_\(SSN-23\))

~~~
mjn
The _Jimmy Carter_ is also widely assumed to be a replacement for a previous
submarine that has been carrying out similar missions since the 1970s
(initially tapping copper cables), the USS _Parche_. Obviously, nothing has
been confirmed, but it seems to be something of an open secret. There is
extensive discussion in, among other places, the 1998 book _Blind Man 's
Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage_
([http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/006097771X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?...](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/006097771X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=006097771X&linkCode=as2&tag=kmjn-20))

