I love this, it is why they love talking about transparency and GFW censorship.

The Chinese penetrated clandestine communications and used that knowledge to arrest and execute at least 20 CIA informants, according to multiple current and former government officials.

“It was a horrible, devastating loss to the intelligence community,” a former intelligence official said. “Lives were lost.”

Until even a decade ago, China’s collective leadership, with power more diffused among different factions and individuals, offered up an array of possible intelligence targets and a more fluid political environment.

“There was a wider circle of people that intelligence agencies might target. It’s a much more centralized, tight system now,” said a former senior U.S. intelligence official familiar with the matter.