Little is known about the woman identified only as "Person 1" in an FBI affidavit in the case. She does appear to be connected to something in the suspect’s life that experts for the Defense Department know can be a trigger for espionage.
Until last year Benjamin Bishop of Hawaii was married to Siriporn Amornsuwan, who had stayed in Utah with their daughter when he was assigned to Hawaii several years prior for a defense assignment.
It was here, at a 2011 military conference according to the FBI, that another woman from China in her 20s came into the life of Bishop, in his 50s.
"When he asked for the divorce he said that he had met someone else," said a Utah neighbor of Amornsuwan’s who did not want to be publically identified. "Siri knew that it was a Chinese girl, and that she was a young girl."
Now he’s charged with breaching his top-secret clearance to tell her things about nuclear weapons and war plans, and taking classified documents to his Makakilo house.
Those who know him say it seems a wild turn of character for a man with a long military career, who appeared quite the patriot in his work and personal life.
"Basically he is not a malicious man, I wouldn’t think so," the neighbor said. "I think he’s just a man, and that flattery just does much to their ego, and he’s just fallen into it."
Fallen like a study for the Defense Department says other suspects have in American espionage cases ("Changes in Espionage by Americans" by Northrup Grumman). The research shows that what they call a "life event" like a divorce can become a trigger for espionage. In fact they found such triggers in one-third of all spy cases going back to the 1950s. They also found most aren’t motivated by money, and more these days are civilians or contractors, and not active-duty military.
But what about the other woman, and the relatively open access J-1 visitor visa-holders get?
"After 9-11 (2001) we drew way back on the student visas, and it sort of cost us in some ways because we lost the diversity in our universities," said Carl Baker of Pacific Forum, a Honolulu-based program of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, "so there’s this balance you have to strike between being part of the Asia-Pacific and trying to protect information."
According to neighbors in Utah, the woman may have been sponsored by a Washington, D.C. university. The U.S. State Department, which oversees J-1s, lists 73 possible sponsoring agencies. Neighbors in Hawaii recall seeing a young woman here at the house in Hawaii only once. The FBI affidavit says they carried on their intimate romance through correspondence and in-person visits.
According to the State Department there are more than 170,000 J-1 visa-holders in the U.S., more than 12,000 in D.C., more than 2,000 in Hawaii.
Plus, there’s pressure to ease the tourist visa process from places like China.
"All military people here recognize that’s a danger," Baker said, "and that as you start increasing the number of tourists from China specifically, that becomes a concern, because it becomes more access, people can get here easily."
The U.S. Attorney has said others in the case are still being investigated.
The State Department did not yet respond on specific questions about this woman’s visa status.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
