Los Alamos National Lab scientist recruited by China, sentenced

A former scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory where U.S. nuclear weapons are designed was sentenced to probation and a fine for lying to an Energy Department counterspy operation about his recruitment by the Chinese government.

Turab Lookman, 68, of Santa Fe, New Mexico could have been imprisoned but instead was given five years’ probation and fined $75,000 for hiding his application to join China’s “Thousand Talents” program to recruit foreign scientists.

Mr. Lookman was indicted in May 2019 on three counts of lying about the recruitment effort.

He was charged with not revealing on a 2017 security questionnaire that he had been asked by a Chinese agent to join the talent recruitment program. A year later, he denied when asked by a Los Alamos counterintelligence official if he had been recruited by China for work with a university or other academic post. A third count involved lying to another federal investigator about the recruitment.

In January, Mr. Lookman pleaded guilty to one count of lying about his contacts with China. Two other charges were dropped. He could have faced up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/sep/15/turab-lookman-los-alamos-national-lab-scientist-re/

Terror

US accuses Hezbollah of stockpiling weapons and ammonium nitrate across Europe
State department’s Nathan Sales says group ‘represents clear and present danger to the US’ and urges Europe to take tougher line.

China Virus

A top virologist who fled China announced she has evidence the coronavirus was man-made.
According to Dr. Li-Meng Yan, China actually owned two different viruses that, when modified, became the coronavirus. Furthermore, she stated the virus came from a lab in Wuhan. @BeholdIsrael.org

Middl East

Syrian report: The Iranian Revolutionary Guard transferred today major forces from Iraq to the Imam Ali base in Al-Bukamal, Syria: 12 trucks with heavy and light weapons, 5 military vehicles with machine guns, as well as three buses with fighters, arrived at the main base. @BeholdIsrael.com

China

@WashTimes: Aggressive PLA submarine buildup continues; China Military Power report highlights Chinese ’non-war’ warfare; China aids NK crypto hacks

China has already in essence started a war with America. Tweet taken from Bill Gertz.

DOD warns Chinese about military exercises, missile launches in South China Sea

“The PRC’s actions, including missile tests, further destabilize the situation in the South China Sea,” the Pentagon declared in a statement.

The Defense Department on Thursday warned the People’s Republic of China for carrying out military exercises with ballistic- missile launches in the disputed South China Sea, calling them “counterproductive” when it comes to successfully “maintaining stability.”

“Conducting military exercises over disputed territory in the South China Sea is counterproductive to easing tensions and maintaining stability. The PRC’s actions, including missile tests, further destabilize the situation in the South China Sea,” the Pentagon declared in a statement about China’s activities that started on August 23 and will run through Saturday.

China’s recent actions represents a breach of the nation’s commitments in the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, the U.S. said.

https://justthenews.com/world/asia/dod-decries-chinese-military-exercises-and-missile-launches-south-china-sea

Ukrainian flagged as intel danger to Trump had extensive contact with Obama officials, memos show

Obama State Department considered Konstantin Kilimnik a ‘sensitive source,’ Senate report now identifies him as Russian intel officer.

In December 2015, the Obama State Department and its ambassador in Kiev were upset over a negative story about then-Vice President Joe Biden ahead of his visit to Ukraine. So a U.S. embassy official turned to a “sensitive source” for help.

“Thank you very much for looking into this and very sorry to ask,” U.S. embassy official Alexander “Sasha” Kasanof wrote businessman Konstantin Kilimnik in a Dec. 6, 2015 email obtained by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators and reviewed by Just the News. “Ambassador very unhappy about the article, though agree it stinks to me to (sic) of people we know very well.”

A few lines later, Kasanof’s email offered Kilimnik some valuable inside skinny about the Obama administration’s assessment of a sensitive meeting between indicted fugitive Ukrainian oligarch Dmitri Firtash’s associate Yuriy Boyko and Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland. “I thought Boyko did quite well, in fact,” Kasanof wrote. “Don’t know that he convinced Nuland on everything (incl. DF intentions), but his performance was much less Soviet and better than I thought would be. So job well done!”

https://justthenews.com/accountability/russia-and-ukraine-scandals/ukrainian-flagged-spy-danger-trump-had-extensive-contact