Cogito Ergo Non Serviam

State Department Worries China to Spy at Waldorf Astoria

In these globalized times, it is not out of the ordinary for foreign firms to purchase high-profile assets in other nations. The Beijing-based Anbang Insurance Group is purchasing the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City, and the State Department is worried that the Chinese government will use this as a place to conduct espionage. At $1.95 billion, there are cheaper ways for the ChiComs to do their spying.

Every government in the world conducts espionage activities. It's part of the nature of the beast. Every embassy has someone in it in some capacity whose job it is to send sensitive information back to the home country. Some nations have very big budgets and conduct intelligence gathering on a grand scale, and others do so more modestly. But it is par for the course.

In New York City, the United Nations headquarters offers a unique opportunity for spying because virtually every nation on earth has some kind of representation there. Even nations that the US government does not recognize (for instance, Cuba) have diplomats and spies in residence in Manhattan. The US, as the host nation whose actions vis a vis UN diplomatic missions are governed by treaty, can do little about it. At most, the US is able to prevent foreign operatives from venturing far from the UNHQ.

The purchase of the Waldorf, though, as the State Department worried. Anbang is, like all Chinese companies, answerable to the Chinese Communist Party. The fear is that the building will be infested with microphones and video cameras. State rents two floors of the building during the UN General Assembly opening, and it leases a residence for the US ambassador to the UN at the Waldorf, a practice that is 50 years old.

With all due respect to the department's security wizards, the whole thing is stupid. The ChiComs will use the Waldorf to spy if they can. They may be using it right now, along with any other hotel or restaurant they can wire. Who owns the hotel is far less important than who has access to it. One would have thought that the NYPD would be able to protect against such actions. After all, bugging a room is against the local legal code.

What is more troubling as a tax payer is the stupidity of the State Department renting real estate in Manhattan. After 50 years of rent at the Waldorf, the Department could have had a pretty amazing property paid for in which the ambassador could live. Indeed, the amount wasted runs to the millions. As for renting two floors at the Waldorf, there's plenty of office space and residential property across the 59th Street Bridge in Queens for a fraction of the price.

Espionage is not to be taken lightly, but by the same token, there is no need to get one's dander up over a simple real estate transaction. The concern is not that the Chinese may start using the Waldorf for nefarious intelligence gathering. The concern is that such actions are probably already taking place there, and State seems unaware of the possibility.

© Copyright 2014 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.



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