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Speaker 1: A couple quick notes before we get started. Throughout the

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Speaker 1: rest of the series, you'll hear people refer to GE.

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Speaker 1: They're usually talking about a division of the General Electric

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Speaker 1: Company that made aircraft engines, GE Aviation. Today it's an

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Speaker 1: independent company called GE Aerospace. So you'll hear people use

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Speaker 1: all these terms and they basically mean the same thing. Also,

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Speaker 1: this is the third episode of this series. If you

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Speaker 1: missed the first two, we recommend going back and listening

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Speaker 1: in order. Thanks.

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Speaker 2: Do you know what that is?

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Speaker 3: It's loud.

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Speaker 4: It's loud, Drake.

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Speaker 5: You want to talk about where we are and what

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Speaker 5: we're seeing.

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Speaker 1: We're at the Paris Air Show, and that noise in

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Speaker 1: the background is kind of advanced fighter jet doing loops

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Speaker 1: above us in the sky all around us. Wow. The

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Speaker 1: Paris episode takes place every two years. It's been happening

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Speaker 1: since nineteen oh nine, almost as long as airplanes have existed.

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Speaker 1: It's held at Le Bourges Airport, which is actually where

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Speaker 1: Charles Lindbergh landed after his famous flight across the Atlantic

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Speaker 1: in nineteen twenty seven. A century later, this airport still

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Speaker 1: gets to be for a week the center of the

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Speaker 1: aviation world.

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Speaker 6: This is the greatest repository of knowledge about the industry

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Speaker 6: you're going to find on a global basis.

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Speaker 1: This is Richard Abolafia, a consultant in the aviation industry,

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Speaker 1: and who are some of the biggest companies here.

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Speaker 6: The charismatic megafauna are the airframers. So you've got following Airbus, Lockeyed, Martin,

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Speaker 6: folks like that. And then you've got the engine ecosystem

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Speaker 6: led by General Electric and to well dozens and hundreds

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Speaker 6: of thousands even of companies going down to.

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Speaker 4: The second, third, and fourth tier of the supply chain.

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Speaker 5: People are here to network and to show off. There

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Speaker 5: are all these huge exhibition halls full of booths displaying

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Speaker 5: products like control systems, landing gear, radar transponders. Outside aircraft

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Speaker 5: are lined up along the taxiway, shining in the bright

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Speaker 5: sun in all their glory. There's all sorts of eye

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Speaker 5: candy here in all directions. But we spent the majority

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Speaker 5: of our time looking at one thing, the.

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Speaker 1: GE nine X aircraft engine. It's the most powerful commercial

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Speaker 1: jet engine that's ever been made.

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Speaker 5: The GE nine X, made by GE Aerospace is outside

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Speaker 5: on its own little stage with its own security guards

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Speaker 5: and a velvet rope. First it's huge.

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Speaker 1: It's gigantic. I mean, at its widest the sort of

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Speaker 1: intake fan blade section is almost twelve feet in diameter,

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Speaker 1: so you can see inside it, and it looks really complicated.

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Speaker 1: I even having done the reporting we've done, like, can't

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Speaker 1: make much sense of what I'm looking at, honestly, But

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Speaker 1: if you did have a little bit more of technical proficiency,

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Speaker 1: like Richard, who definitely has a little more technical proficiency

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Speaker 1: than we do, and he says, jet propulsion is actually

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Speaker 1: pretty straightforward. It boils down to four words.

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Speaker 4: Suck, squeeze, burn, blow.

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Speaker 1: Suck, squeeze, burn, blow.

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Speaker 6: You're sucking air in, you're squeezing it, you're compressing it

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Speaker 6: in several stages of a compressor.

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Speaker 4: Burn, of course, is the combustor that's an engine, just

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Speaker 4: like a car engine. It's burning fuel.

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Speaker 6: And then blow, of course, is what comes out the

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Speaker 6: back that gives you your propulsion.

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Speaker 1: Simple and yet really hard to perfect, because making an

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Speaker 1: engine is one thing. Making it light enough and powerful

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Speaker 1: enough to fly through the air is another. Making money

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Speaker 1: on it is another, and having everyone land safely at

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Speaker 1: the end of the day every single time is still another.

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Speaker 1: The steaks are incredibly high, so being able to make

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Speaker 1: engines like this puts ge into a very exclusive club.

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Speaker 6: There are only three companies and two countries in the

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Speaker 6: entire world that can build a decent commercial jet engine,

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Speaker 6: General Electric and Bratton Whitney of the US and Rolls

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Speaker 6: Royce in Britain.

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Speaker 1: None of those companies you'll notice are Chinese. There are

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Speaker 1: all sorts of areas where Chinese companies have caught up

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Speaker 1: with and surpassed their Western competitors. Today, a smartphone made

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Speaker 1: by China's Huawei is just as advanced as an iPhone,

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Speaker 1: and a bid electric car is on par with the

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Speaker 1: Tesla and a fraction of the price. But when it

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Speaker 1: comes to commercial aviation and commercial jet engines, no dice.

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Speaker 5: Obviously, the Chinese government wants to change that. They claim

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Speaker 5: that their latest fighter jets already rival Americas, and China's

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Speaker 5: state owned airplane maker Comac is currently making commercial planes

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Speaker 5: meant to compete with Airbus and Boeing. But Chinese passenger

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Speaker 5: jets are still heavily reliant on tech from Western companies,

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Speaker 5: which makes the Paris Air Show a very compelling destination

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Speaker 5: for a certain type of government employee. What about spy

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Speaker 5: so vice.

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Speaker 4: There's no question, there's no question. You know you re

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Speaker 4: enter Shoe.

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Speaker 7: Yeah, June.

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Speaker 1: Shoe was here back in twenty seventeen. But of course

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Speaker 1: to get to the Paris Ara show, he and his

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Speaker 1: colleagues had to take precautions. They used a front company

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Speaker 1: to get their visas and they didn't fly directly to France.

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Speaker 8: June seventeenth, early morning, flew to Athens.

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Speaker 1: They flew into Athens FBI specialises in Bradley Hall.

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Speaker 3: They went to Santorini where they rented a villa.

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Speaker 7: June eighteenth, took ferry to Santorini.

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Speaker 3: We have photos of the villa. In the view from

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Speaker 3: the villa, it was, it was stunning. We also have

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Speaker 3: photos of them in the hot tub with what appeared

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Speaker 3: to be narcotics.

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Speaker 4: We also have.

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Speaker 3: Photos of them with women, some in the hot tub,

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Speaker 3: some and other locales. So basically it looked like these

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Speaker 3: five or six MSS officers who were on this trip

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Speaker 3: were a bunch of lads out.

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Speaker 4: On the lash.

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Speaker 3: To use the British term for right. They were there

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Speaker 3: to party, so that if anybody was watching them, they

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Speaker 3: wouldn't look like a group of MSS officers there to

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Speaker 3: do spycraft. They looked like a bunch of guys doing

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Speaker 3: a big European trip where you you drink, you corrouse,

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Speaker 3: et cetera.

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Speaker 1: The lads out on the lash, as Bradley would say,

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Speaker 1: partied their way through Venice, Verona, Florence Rome.

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Speaker 3: And ultimately, after five days of what we call a

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Speaker 3: surveillance detection route, the team determined they were clean. They

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Speaker 3: bought tickets for cash at the airport June.

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Speaker 7: Twenty second through to Paris and.

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Speaker 3: Went straight to the Paris Air Show. We could see

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Speaker 3: which gate they entered. We know they spent a lot

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Speaker 3: of time around an area where the one of the

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Speaker 3: US Predator drones was set up. We have a couple

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Speaker 3: images of that. They had at least two meetings with

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Speaker 3: other individuals, either at the Paris Airshow or around the

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Speaker 3: Paris air Show, and that's what they were there to do. Ultimately,

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Speaker 3: they were there to mix and mingle, and they certainly

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Speaker 3: seem like they did.

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Speaker 5: On top of all that, Shoe had another job to do.

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Speaker 5: He had to go shop it for his boss.

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Speaker 7: One briefcase, two LaCosta T shirts.

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Speaker 5: For his boss's boss or his boss's boss's wife, one

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Speaker 5: new meal.

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Speaker 7: Purse, one Zanga belt, one Amblo.

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Speaker 5: Brislet and for the Big Boss. Shoe really splashed out two.

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Speaker 8: Bottles in the toll, one Zaya clutch, one box of macaron.

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Speaker 5: He spends thousands of euros and yet when he gets home,

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Speaker 5: it's clear his gifts don't get the reaction he was

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Speaker 5: hoping for.

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Speaker 7: When to work, gave on all the gifts didn't buy enough.

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Speaker 1: It was a small enough thing, but it bugged him

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Speaker 1: and it was one of a growing number of indignities

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Speaker 1: he suffered. In twenty seventeen, the year marks the kind

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Speaker 1: of inflection point for Shoe. He begins to struggle at

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Speaker 1: work and also at home, but that same year he

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Speaker 1: would get introduced to a new source, the kind of

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Speaker 1: source that could change everything.

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Speaker 9: This is going to be the highlight of Shoe's career.

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Speaker 9: This is going to be the recruitment that is going

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Speaker 9: to set him aside from all of his peers. This

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Speaker 9: is big. This is a very big thing.

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Speaker 5: From Bloomberg News and iHeart Podcasts. This is the Sixth Bureau.

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Speaker 5: I'm Jordan Robertson and I'm Drake Bennett. Throughout twenty seventeen,

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Speaker 5: Shoe's personal life was in the dumps. She really starts

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Speaker 5: to sound like he's stuck reading his diary. You can

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Speaker 5: see him questioning his life choices.

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Speaker 8: May nineteenth, feeling agitated in the past couple of days,

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Speaker 8: feeling like I'm abandoned by the whole world. Work, relationship, money,

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Speaker 8: none of it is going well.

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Speaker 5: On the romance front. He'd been spending a lot of

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Speaker 5: time with one of his mistresses, someone he worked with

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Speaker 5: at the MSS, actually the one he called Peach in

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Speaker 5: his diary. But now things with Peach were taking a turn.

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Speaker 8: April twenty eighth, message to the Peach, but didn't receive

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Speaker 8: a nding reply. Not going to reach out anymore speaking

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Speaker 8: of a relationship, Peach obviously doesn't care anymore, not even

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Speaker 8: replying to messages.

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Speaker 7: Breakup is real.

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Speaker 5: As the summer wore on, things only got worse.

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Speaker 8: August seventeenth, Peach heartless, saw me in the rain yesterday morning,

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Speaker 8: walked by with her umbrella without stopping. She did not

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Speaker 8: sit next to me at the breakfast either. I reached

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Speaker 8: out to her on which had after she was very

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Speaker 8: cold toward me. I feel like I was humiliating myself.

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Speaker 5: Things weren't going any better for you financially.

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Speaker 8: I lost it so much in star market, and I

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Speaker 8: tucked myself into a financial hole.

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Speaker 7: What a shame? Feeling so terrible? When does it all end?

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Speaker 5: Work also sucked. Shoe's boss, joh Rom had been a

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Speaker 5: mentor to him for years, but now Shoe felt taken

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Speaker 5: for granted much twenty.

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Speaker 8: Sevens John rejected new receipt. Today such an ungrateful person

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Speaker 8: has no shame. I will have my revenge.

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Speaker 3: He would get promoted and then be berated. He would

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Speaker 3: have an amazing case and get a beautiful end of

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Speaker 3: the year review and then be crushed a week later

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Speaker 3: because a decimal point was wrong on a receipt.

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Speaker 8: April twenty eight, relationship with Jaw has dropped a below

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Speaker 8: freezing point.

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Speaker 7: John underminded me, I need to adjust my.

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Speaker 3: Mindset so that that yo yoing between your great and

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Speaker 3: you're terrible clearly was having an impact on his state

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Speaker 3: of mind.

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Speaker 8: During dinner job when nuts and said I'm poor at

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Speaker 8: a management draw has tended against me.

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Speaker 7: Just like that.

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Speaker 8: I think my relationship with him would never be the

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Speaker 8: same again having a leader like this? What's the point?

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Speaker 3: Life wasn't where he wanted it to be, even though

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Speaker 3: compared to your average person, to be that high up

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Speaker 3: within the MSS in China would seem like a pretty,

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Speaker 3: you know, auspicious life. But my interpretation was that he

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Speaker 3: didn't see it that.

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Speaker 7: Way and low point in my life.

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Speaker 8: Nothing works my way and the liears get their ways.

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Speaker 1: But amidst all of this disappointment and humiliation, Shu did

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Speaker 1: still have a job to do. He had hacks to

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Speaker 1: manage and bosses to deal with. He had to keep

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Speaker 1: finding new engineers to come give talks in Nanjing, and

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Speaker 1: if you could find a really good one, it could

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Speaker 1: turn his life, or at least his career around. He

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Speaker 1: could get back on his feet.

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Speaker 6: And he did.

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Speaker 1: And it wasn't by hacking into a computer or breaking

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Speaker 1: into a hotel room or doing some special spy thing.

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Speaker 1: It was through a tool you've probably used yourself, something

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Speaker 1: extremely ordinary.

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Speaker 9: LinkedIn.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. LinkedIn also known as one of the most boring

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Speaker 1: places on the Internet, but not to the MSS.

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Speaker 5: It was like a candy store.

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Speaker 1: This is James Olsen, the former CIA officer we've been

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Speaker 1: hearing from. He was also an expert witness for the

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Speaker 1: prosecution in Shoe's case.

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Speaker 9: LinkedIn is a wonderful spotting tool for the MSS.

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Speaker 1: A spotting tool, meaning they go hang out on LinkedIn

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Speaker 1: looking for sources for people who have access to the

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Speaker 1: information they want, like aviation engineers, and with LinkedIn.

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Speaker 9: We're handing it to them. They've got their resumes on there,

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Speaker 9: they brag about the projects they've been working on. It's

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Speaker 9: all right there.

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Speaker 1: And that's where Shoe or someone at the sixth Bureau

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Speaker 1: spotted the profile of a GE engineer named David John.

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Speaker 9: He had access to very sensitive programs at G Aviation,

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Speaker 9: working on this composite material, this lightweight technology.

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Speaker 5: Remember that huge engine we stood next to at the

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Speaker 5: Paris Air Show, the GE nine X. Well, part of

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Speaker 5: what's so special about that engine is that key elements

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Speaker 5: of it are made out of carbon fiber composite. When

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Speaker 5: you make something out of carbon fiber, you can make

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Speaker 5: it both lighter and stronger than if you've made it

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Speaker 5: out of most any other material, say metal. And as

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Speaker 5: you can imagine, details about how GE Aerospace uses carbon

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Speaker 5: fiber are kept very tight. They're inaccessible even to most

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Speaker 5: of the company's employees, but not to David Jun.

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Speaker 9: And that's why when Shu saw this LinkedIn profile, he said, Bingo, Jackpot,

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Speaker 9: exactly what they want, and I'm going to go get it.

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Speaker 5: David was born and raised in a rural village in China.

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Speaker 5: Being Chinese is also part of what made him an

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Speaker 5: attractive target for the MSS. The MSS is known to

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Speaker 5: specifically target Chinese people living and working abroad, people who

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Speaker 5: might be susceptible to appeals to their sense of patriotism

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Speaker 5: or threats to their family members back home. David was

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Speaker 5: the first in his family to go to college, then

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Speaker 5: moved to the US to get his engineering PhD in composites.

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Speaker 5: He moved to Cincinnati in twenty twelve to work for

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Speaker 5: what was then called ge Aviation and focused on a

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Speaker 5: part of the engine called the fan containment case. We

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Speaker 5: really wanted to talk to David John for the series.

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Speaker 5: Drake and I have approached him multiple times over the

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Speaker 5: years we've been reporting on this case. He's declined to

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Speaker 5: talk to us each time. So there's a lot we

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Speaker 5: don't know about him, but we do know LinkedIn is

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Speaker 5: part of how Shoe and the MSS spotted him, and

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Speaker 5: we know what they did next.

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Speaker 1: They reach out. Obviously, shoot doesn't say Hi, I'm from

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Speaker 1: the MSS, and I'd love to explore how we can

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Speaker 1: collaborate to serve China. The MSS is smarter than that,

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Speaker 1: so Shu doesn't even make the first contact. Instead, it's

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Speaker 1: a dean at n UAA.

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Speaker 2: Hello, I am sorry to bother you i phone. I'm

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Speaker 2: in charter of the International Cooperation and Exchange Office at

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Speaker 2: the Ninegenia University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. I learned from

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Speaker 2: your alliging resume that you have accumulated wealth.

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Speaker 9: The MSS recruited a respected person to make the first contact.

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Speaker 9: That added to the likelihood that Xing would be impressed,

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Speaker 9: would be flattered if someone of that stature would be

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Speaker 9: reaching out to him personally.

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Speaker 1: Many eminent talents like you Chen Poune continued come to

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Speaker 1: NUAA to share their expertise.

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Speaker 2: And UAA can pay for the cost of your trip

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Speaker 2: back to China for the exchange. If you're interested, please

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Speaker 2: feel free to contact me.

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Speaker 1: David, it seems was flattered by the invitation.

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Speaker 10: Chian for how are you? Thank you for email. I've

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Speaker 10: been working at GE for over ten years after graduating

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Speaker 10: with a doctorate in the US. I first worked for

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Speaker 10: five years at G'SRND department, then into New twelve.

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Speaker 1: Plus he already happened to be planning an upcoming trip

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Speaker 1: to China at.

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Speaker 10: The end of May to see my parents. My hometown

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Speaker 10: is in Krujo when I passed by Nanjing. If time allows,

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Speaker 10: I am happy to pay a visit to Nuaa. I

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Speaker 10: can confirm once my itinery is finalized.

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Speaker 5: The emails between David and Chen continue through the spring

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Speaker 5: into early May, and as they do, Chen gets more

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Speaker 5: and more specific about what he wants David to share

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Speaker 5: on his talk, and even what it could be called.

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Speaker 2: Application design and manufacturing techniques of compositive materials and aircraft

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Speaker 2: engines composites.

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Speaker 5: David's careful in his response. He says he can't discuss

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Speaker 5: any proprietary information from his work, but before he goes

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Speaker 5: to China he does something that will come back to

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Speaker 5: haunt him. He copies about forty one thousand files off

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Speaker 5: his GE work computer, and then, as he's getting ready

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Speaker 5: for his trip, he transfers five of those files onto

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Speaker 5: his personal computer, the one he's planning to take to China.

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Speaker 5: At no point does he mention any of this to

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Speaker 5: anyone at GE.

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Speaker 1: On June first, twenty seventeen, David jun arrives in Nanjing.

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Speaker 1: Chen Fung picks him up and takes him to his hotel,

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Speaker 1: which is on the NUAA campus. The next morning, over

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Speaker 1: tea in the hotel lobby, Chen Fun introduces him to

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Speaker 1: a man who he says works with the university. He

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Speaker 1: says the man's name is Chu Huei. Surprise, surprise, it's

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Speaker 1: Chu Yen June. The group goes to lunch, then David

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Speaker 1: gives his presentation to a room of about twenty five people.

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Speaker 9: Jiang gave the talk, course raved about it, how smart

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Speaker 9: he was, and they're asking questions.

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Speaker 1: But David doesn't answer most of the questions because he

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Speaker 1: says they touch on sensitive ge work.

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Speaker 9: They're kind of probing. They're seeing how far he will go,

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Speaker 9: whether he is someone who can be induced to talk

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Speaker 9: more than he should.

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Speaker 1: After the presentation, Chen Fong hands David cash three five

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Speaker 1: hundred dollars. He says it's for the talk and to

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Speaker 1: cover his travel. At dinner that night, Chew huey aksu

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Speaker 1: Yen June presents David with two boxes of fancy tea.

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Speaker 1: They say they're goodbyes, and David heads back to the US.

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Speaker 1: We reached out to NUAA and Chenfog for comment, but

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Speaker 1: neither responded.

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Speaker 5: Once David is home, Chew Huay messages him over wee

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Speaker 5: chat to thank David for his talk. He invites him

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Speaker 5: to come back soon.

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Speaker 8: You're welcome to visit Nuanja again next year.

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Speaker 5: Six months pass, Hue goes to the Paris Air Show,

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Speaker 5: Peach breaks his heart. His boss continue used to write him,

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Speaker 5: and then in December, David JHN says he's coming back

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Speaker 5: to China.

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Speaker 10: Hello, department, had Chew, It's been a while since we

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Speaker 10: last caught up.

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Speaker 5: David says he has another trip book and he seems

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Speaker 5: eager to give another talk at NUAA. Shoe seems eager too,

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Speaker 5: he responds just a few hours later, I.

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Speaker 7: Will try my best to arrange it for you.

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Speaker 8: Come Starbin Ninjin and we can't have a chat, well

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Speaker 8: come back.

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Speaker 5: As the messages continue, David repeatedly asks Shu what material

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Speaker 5: he should bring with him to China. He no longer

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Speaker 5: seems concerned about revealing sensitive GE information. Instead, his main

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Speaker 5: concern seems to be giving Shoe what he wants for

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Speaker 5: Shoe just had to feel like a huge break. He

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Speaker 5: had an enthusiastic source inside GE working on one of

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Speaker 5: the company's most coveted technologies, a potential gold mine. But

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Speaker 5: David John wasn't writing these messages himself. He was being

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Speaker 5: told what to say.

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Speaker 3: We had to have the communication look authentic.

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Speaker 9: And at this point of course they're actually talking to

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Speaker 9: Bradley Hull, FBI Special.

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Speaker 5: Agent Bradley Hall.

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Speaker 3: We had to make the story seem as accurate and

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Speaker 3: truthful as possible. I want it for my counterpart in

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Speaker 3: the MSS to see and to read and think it's

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Speaker 3: still my guy. He's still working for me. The goal

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Speaker 3: of a good intel operation is to talk to the officer,

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Speaker 3: you know, spy the spy.

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Speaker 5: David was now working with the FBI. That's who Shoey

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Speaker 5: and June was talking with, and he was falling for it.

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Speaker 3: That's when you cast your line to see if they

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Speaker 3: if they'll at least nibble, and they bit.

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Speaker 1: On the next episode.

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Speaker 3: Obviously, the guy's kind of in shock to FBI.

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Speaker 4: People come walking in.

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Speaker 3: So when I first thought, I wasn't sure what it

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Speaker 3: was because it was a Mandarin and I saw a

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Speaker 3: face in a military uniform, which makes it government.

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Speaker 9: You're going head to head with the very smart people

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Speaker 9: on both ends and each side has to be smarter

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Speaker 9: than the other, and I can just see the jubilation

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Speaker 9: with the FBI that he's coming our way.