Hau‘oli Makahiki Hou!
The Rainbow State in 2023 experienced espionage-related events in the air and sea and on land. Russia, China and even North Korea were at play. We explored some incidents in this column, I addressed others in local speaking engagements that you may have attended, and there were more still. I think it’s time for a recap, a 2023 year in review.
Last January kicked us off with the U.S. Coast Guard tracking the Karilya, a Russian Vishnya Class spy ship, as it skirted Oahu on an undisclosed mission. “Russian spies on a Hawaiian cruise” (published here on Feb. 12, 2023) put the incident into context, provided some background on intelligence-gathering ships, and recommended a source for further reading.
That same month, the Subaru-Asahi telescope team on Maunakea documented the laser scanning of our island by China’s Daqi-1 satellite, which has as its stated purpose pollution monitoring. Such laser scanning is also used for precise topographic mapping, the kind needed for military purposes, and it is unclear why Beijing would be interested in Big Island pollution. (You can find video of the laser scan online.)
Then, in February, we saw a Chinese signals intelligence balloon sail across the mainland before being shot down off South Carolina’s coast. Launched from Hainan Island, its mission was to tap communications in Hawaii and Guam, but it was blown off course. In “Spy balloons over paradise” (March 12, 2023), we learned that this was not an isolated incident for the Sandwich Isles.
March brought the pretrial conference before a U.S. magistrate in Honolulu of former CIA operations officer Alexander Ma, who grew up in Hawaii, where he was arrested in 2020 for working as a clandestine source for China’s Ministry of State Security. He allegedly compromised CIA undercover officers’ identities, methodologies and systems. His trial is expected in 2024. (Ma and I worked for the same office and had mutual acquaintances, but I did not personally know him.)
UH Manoa’s Academy for Hawaii Intelligence Studies Summer Program in July hosted students from high schools islandwide who wanted to explore national security career possibilities. Simulations, games, field trips and intelligence-leader speakers introduced the younglings to the importance and excitement of intel work. (You may not think of born-and-bred Hawaii residents living cloak-and-dagger lives in exotic locales abroad, but in my career, I worked with three CIA operations officers who grew up in the islands, including one Kanaka Maoli, and I have heard of others.)
“Operation Lahaina: Spies descend on Maui” (Sept. 14, 2023) documented the involvement of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency and the FBI in Maui’s recovery effort. It also highlighted Russian and Chinese covert influence operations trying to exploit the tragedy to change the American public’s perception about support to Ukraine and faith in Uncle Sam.
Then came October. Kapolei residents Walter Primrose and Gwynn Morrison — suspected Russian agents photographed wearing KGB uniforms — were convicted of conspiracy, passport fraud and living under the identities of dead babies. Their sentencing is expected early this year. (Peek into the world of real deep cover Russian operatives on our soil via FX television’s 2013 series, “The Americans,” co-created by a CIA officer and inspired by FBI’s Operation Ghost Stories, which wrapped up 10 “illegals” in 2010.)
Finally, in November, Kim Jung Un announced that North Korea’s newly launched spy satellite, Malligyong-1, collected imagery intelligence of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. (We also saw the sinking in Kaneohe Bay of a U.S. P-8A naval spy plane that overshot the runway at Marine Corps Base Hawaii and the release of the New York Times best-seller ‘The Ghosts of Honolulu,” a historical account of a Japanese American naval intel officer and a Japanese spy operating under diplomatic cover on Oahu before the Pearl Harbor attack.)
Phew! What a year for local spy buffs!
When discussing these events, people often ask me, “Why are our islands intelligence magnets?” A full answer exceeds the scope of this piece, but — in short — it’s due to the geographically driven strategic importance of the 50th state and, relatedly, the presence of Indo-Pacom. (Much the same for Guam.)
What spy activity do you think 2024 will bring to our islands?
J.P. Atwell is a former senior CIA operations officer. His two-decade career began as an intelligence analyst and took him to every continent, save Antarctica. He now calls Hawaii Island home. He welcomes your comments at island.intelligencer@gmail.com.