Special to WorldTribune.com

Bill Gertz, Flash Critic

Chinese hackers behind the breach of computer networks run by federal government’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM) have revealed key intelligence-gathering priorities of Beijing’s aggressive spy services.

The penetration of OPM networks in March will benefit China’s two main spy agencies, the Ministry of State Security, the civilian service, and its military counterpart, the Second Department of the People’s Liberation Army General Staff, known as 2PLA.

The operation appears to U.S. officials to be part of China’s large-scale “HUMINT,” or human intelligence, program aimed at identifying potential spy recruits.

This basic “talent spotter” function in the past was performed by networks of trusted agents – mainly people, often at universities, who would look out for potential recruits and pass along the information to Chinese operatives.

In the digital age, this function is being replaced by cyber attacks aimed at stealing vast amounts of personal information on potential recruits.

In the OPM hack, first reported by the New York Times July 9, the key target was an OPM database known as known as Electronic Questionnaires for Investigations Processing, or e-QIP that is used by many of the hundreds of thousands of federal workers who hold security clearances, or who are undergoing periodic review for security clearances that grant them access to classified information – the Chinese spies’ ultimate target.

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  China hackers, Chinese cyber-penetration of U.S. personnel office reveals quest for HUMINT recruits, LIFE, OPM, WorldTribune.com