A little more than a decade ago, a shot rang out in the courtyard of a Chinese government building. Practically nothing is known of what really happened, only that it was an execution—and that the execution was a reminder to Chinese state employees of the consequences of treason. The executed had sold secrets to the Central Intelligence Agency. Neither was it the only such case. Between 2010 and 2012, Chinese authorities killed at least a dozen sources working for the CIA and imprisoned more. One after another, they were arrested, tortured, and executed.
“The creation of the Chinese spy network,” Tim Weiner writes in The Mission, “was one of the highest achievements in the history of the clandestine service, its destruction an unsurpassed debacle.”
How could this happen?
