Espionage

The Justice Department on Monday announced the indictment and arrest of a longtime aerospace worker in Southern California for allegedly passing classified documents to China in an elaborate espionage endeavor that spanned two decades and exposed trade secrets from the space shuttle, the Delta IV rocket and the C-17 military transport aircraft. Dongfan Chung, 72, a native of China who became a naturalized U.S.

The Senate approved espionage legislation Tuesday that would expand the government's authority to intercept international phone calls and e-mails and to block lawsuits against U.S. telecommunications companies that aided in past spying efforts. The 68-29 vote was a victory for the White House, which has battled Congress for two years over the legality of an eavesdropping operation -- launched by President Bush in the aftermath of the Sept.

She went from night-shift airport cop to pinup girl. From chilly anonymity to red-hot notoriety. Next up: The "suitcase girl" is in line for a TV ice-skating gig. "I never imagined anything like this would happen," Maria del Lujan Telpuk told the Argentine edition of Playboy in an interview that accompanies her appearance on the cover this month. "And all for a suitcase that somehow put me into the middle of a rivalry of nations."

The U.S. attorney general and intelligence director warned Friday that the nation has lost potentially critical intelligence during the last week because telecommunications companies cut their cooperation with the government after a controversial espionage law was allowed to lapse. In an unusually blunt letter to Congress, Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey and Director of National Intelligence J.

The missile that took down a disabled spy satellite last week almost certainly destroyed a tank filled with potentially harmful hydrazine fuel, the Pentagon said. "By all accounts this was a successful mission," Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a statement.

An El Dorado Hills man has admitted stealing microwave technologies that can be used by the military and selling them to foreign governments and military contractors. The U.S. attorney's office in Sacramento said 53-year-old Allen Cotten pleaded guilty Friday to stealing plans and parts for two types of video amplifiers from his employer, Genesis Microwave Inc. The thefts took place over a two-year period, starting in February 2004. The amplifiers are used in microwave technologies that have several military applications.

Defying the Bush administration, the House is expected to vote today on legislation that would expand the government's wiretapping authority but stop short of giving telecommunications companies immunity from lawsuits for helping U.S. spy agencies. The planned vote represents the latest in a series of showdowns between congressional Democrats and President Bush over a controversial espionage operation that involves monitoring international e-mail and telephone traffic that travels through networks in the United States.

Editor's note: Rachel Abramowitz will be periodically checking in on the trial of Anthony Pellicano -- former private eye to the stars, who faces 110 counts of racketeering, wiretapping, conspiracy and other federal charges -- and writing about what the case means to Hollywood. -- For once, Chris Rock wasn't laughing. Dressed in a black suit, the comedian was subdued and spoke in such a hushed voice that the judge had to urge him to "project" during his brief 8 a.m.

An Iranian-born Israeli was charged with passing defense information to Tehran, police in Jerusalem said. The man, who lives abroad, was arrested by police and agents of the Shin Bet security agency on May 8 after arriving in Israel for a visit, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. The man told interrogators he repeatedly visited the Iranian Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, and gave the Iranians names of acquaintances who he said served in the Israeli security forces, Rosenfeld said.

A Bush administration plan to issue new orders realigning the chain of command over U.S. spy services has triggered turf-related skirmishes across the intelligence community. The changes could erode the CIA's standing as the nation's lead spy service abroad by requiring agency station chiefs in certain countries to cede authority to officials from other U.S. spy agencies, officials said.