Lonnie Henley being probed for defending Montaperto

Lonnie Henley, the senior intelligence official responsible for East Asia, is now under investigation for defending Chinese spy Ronald Montaperto and for criticizing the FBI concerning the case.

"Because Mr. Henley works directly for Mr. Negroponte as part of the National Intelligence Council, and FBI counterintelligence also is nominally part of the DNI oversight, US government officials say the Henley e-mail could be viewed as an officially sanctioned critique of the FBI and thus an appropriate subject for internal review and possible disciplinary action," Bill Gertz reports in the Washington Times.

The DNI ombudsman for analysis, Nancy Tucker, probably will have to recuse herself from the case because she once dated the spy.

Negroponte aide defends Chinese spy, blasts FBI

A top intelligence aide to Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte is "leading an effort within the Bush administration to defend" a Chinese spy.

Lonnie Henley, Deputy National Intelligence Officer for East Asia under Negroponte, is a friend of former DIA China expert Ronald Montaperto who admitted to espionage-related charges involving betraying the United States to China.

According to Bill Gertz of the Washington Times, Henley "has written e-mails and had telephone conversations with intelligence and policy officials criticizing the FBI investigation and seeking to downplay the damage caused by Montaperto's 22 years of contacts with two Chinese military intelligence officers."

I corroborated Gertz's report independently.

"As deputy national intelligence officer for East Asia under Director of National Intelligence (DNI) John D. Negroponte, Mr. Henley is one of the most senior U.S. intelligence analysts," Gertz writes.

"His defense of Montaperto and criticism of the FBI is unusual and has raised concerns among US counterintelligence officials that there are others in the intelligence community who may have improperly shared classified information with China."

Sinapologists protect Montaperto to preserve their own prestige and influence

"The effort by numerous pro-China intelligence analysts is aimed at protecting their prestige and influence, and at shielding others in government who share Montaperto's benign views of China and the Chinese military," Bill Gertz reports in the Washington Times, citing US officials.

"The result has been near-silence from the Bush administration and Congress on a major Chinese spy case, while at the same time President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and other senior officials publicly criticized recent press disclosures of a classified anti-terrorism financial-tracking program."

Montaperto had immense influence on the shaping of US government perceptions about Beijing.

"Without a doubt, Ron Montaperto, through his career in the intelligence community and then his even more important role in helping to form the views of a generation of current American military leaders, and then his writing and activism, has played a major role in forming the US government perceptions that were translated into policy," China security expert Rick Fisher tells the Times.