Episode Details

It's an open secret that the Chinese government has, for years, engaged in a global campaign to steal intellectual property from Western tech and manufacturing firms. Those stolen secrets have helped Chinese companies, in industry after industry, close the gap and in many cases surpass their competitors elsewhere. And at the center of that campaign is the Ministry of State Security (MSS), China's pre-eminent intelligence agency. The US has apprehended hundreds of people linked to the MSS and its efforts, but its inner workings remained a mystery until one arrest unearthed a trove of confidential documents, covert communications and even a diary.The Sixth Bureau follows Xu Yanjun, the Deputy Division Director of the Sixth Bureau of the Jiangsu Province MSS office. Xu is a burnt-out spy with money problems, a crumbling marriage and a deep resentment for his boss - on a mission to snatch the crown jewel of American aerospace: GE jet engines. With dead drops, cyberattacks, aliases, blackmail and the occasional break-in, Xu played a role in one of the largest economic espionage operations in history, targeting corporate giants like DuPont, Boeing and General Motors. But in the end, his sloppiness - and a cunning FBI sting - led to a stunning reversal: Xu was lured to Belgium, extradited to the US and became the first Chinese intelligence officer ever convicted on American soil.Through undercover recordings, insider accounts and deep reporting, The Sixth Bureau reveals how one man's downfall pulled back the curtain on China's sprawling espionage machine. This isn't just a story about spies: It's about the people caught in the middle of a new kind of cold war.

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