Opinion: Mar-a-Lago is a counterintelligence nightmare
By Ali Soufan April 10 at 4:48 PM Ali Soufan, a former FBI counterterrorism agent, is a private security consultant and the author of “Anatomy of Terror.”
My personal experience as a counterterrorism agent tells me that Zhang’s alleged loadout is consistent with an effort to monitor computer systems while evading surveillance. Experts regularly raise concerns about the president’s apparent use of an unsecured iPhone, and with good reason: A competent intelligence operation can turn any consumer cellphone into a trove of information about its user — or into a live bug for listening in on its owner’s conversations.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was quick to describe Zhang’s arrest as an indication of “the threat that China poses,” strongly suggesting that the State Department suspects her of spying. Yet Chinese influence-peddlers, some of them with unabashed connections to the Communist Party, continue to sell invitations to Mar-a-Lago online with impunity. And no wonder, given the lax security there.
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