Our colleagues at ‘Morning Joe’ did a note worthy interview late last week with renowned intelligence author David Wise, author of the newly released book, Tiger Trap.

Drawing from a slew of interviews with FBI and CIA players, Wise weaves a narrative about China and its largely underreported American spy wars. As the United States focused primarily on the vaunted KGB and other Soviet satellite spies, China over the years has deftly penetrated high-level American governmental and research institutions and stolen secrets ranging from details behind the W88 warhead atop U.S. Navy nuclear submarine’s trident missiles to top secret information on the neutron bomb.

Tiger Trap also takes an in-depth look at characters like Wen-Ho Lee, who after a four year investigation was indicted on charges that he stole secrets about the U.S. nuclear arsenal for the Chinese, and FBI double agent Katrina Leung, who is also known by her code name, “Parlor Maid.” Leung was alleged to have compromised the FBI’s Chinese counterintelligence program while corrupting American intelligence on China over a twenty-year career.   

Leung was indicted in April 2003 by the U.S. Justice Department for "unauthorized copying of national defense information with intent to injure or benefit a foreign nation." However, her case was later dismissed in 2005.

Wise’s book is a good wake-up to those unaware of the savvy and successes China’s intelligence gathering organizations have had over the years. While much media attention as of late has focused on the theft of corporate and private intellectual property, it is important to understand the ongoing intelligence war that has been quietly brewing.