About this episode

This episode explores the FBI's operation to lure Chinese spy Xu Yanjun to the US, leading to his extradition and trial.

The FBI won’t discuss exactly how Chinese spy Xu Yanjun came to the attention of special agents. Xu was handling a GE Aviation engineer in Ohio who specialized in composite fan-blade technology. That engineer, David Zheng, had been approached by an official from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, on LinkedIn with a request to give a presentation. So Zheng ended up traveling from his home in Ohio to China in the summer of 2017. Zheng delivered a talk on aviation technology and met officials from China’s Ministry of State Security. That meeting included Xu, who paid Zheng’s travel expenses and gave him a stipend. U.S. officials found Zheng carrying thousands in cash on his way back. Over the next year, Cincinnati-based FBI Special Agent Bradley Hull was part of a team that flipped Zheng to lure Xu out of China and, ultimately, into an American prison cell. Xu was the first Chinese spy to be extradited to the United States to stand trial. Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories: https://sashaingber.substack.com/ For more information about the International Spy Museum, visit: https://www.spymuseum.org/ And if you have feedback or want…

People in this episode

Host: Sasha Ingber

Topics covered

• espionage
• FBI operations
• Chinese spies
• extradition
• aviation technology
• intelligence
• national security

Keywords

• FBI
• Chinese spy
• extradition
• aviation technology
• intelligence operations
• espionage
• David Zheng
• Xu Yanjun

Sponsors

N2K Networks, Goat Rodeo, International Spy Museum

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, GE Aviation, FBI

Places: Ohio, China, Washington, DC

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