German[US citizen] translator in China espionage scandal

[Kellanved]

KARLSRUHE - A woman translator, 43, tried to sell to China the manuals for electronics that control all the weapons aboard Germany's crack new Type 212A submarines, a court heard on Wednesday.

She was caught when a Canadian counter-espionage agent posed as a Chinese buyer and met her in a bar. Because the official secrets will be presented at the trial, the public was excluded from the courtroom in the western city of Koblenz after charges were read.

Michaela T., who was born in Germany but has been a naturalised US citizen since 1983, has been in custody since she was arrested while visiting her German parents in September. Her full name has been withheld in line with German journalistic ethics guidelines.

The trial is expected to hear how the German manufacturers of the sophisticated weaponry, hoping for export sales, saw no risk in hiring a freelance translator living in Canada to work up an English version of the operating instructions.
...

http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=52&story_id=15080&name=German+translator+in+China+espionage+scandal

[mikelewis]

1. She wasn't a very smart spy...

Shouldn't she have just put out an ad in the Classifieds

For Sale
Top Secret German Information
$75,000 obo

Did she think the Chinese would have been stupid enough to take information from someone who calls them up or stops by with a wink and a nod? They probably called the Canadians and reported her. It's good to know that even in the spy world there are idiots.