“Political power,” Mao Zedong famously declared in 1938, “grows out of the barrel of a gun.” Mao’s actions matched his words. The communist theoretician founded the People’s Republic of China — and murdered millions. But political power also flows from knowledge. Spies played a key role in the rise of the PRC, from Mao’s era to our own. And their reach extends far beyond China’s shores.

On April 17, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it was charging two defendants in connection with “opening and operating an undeclared overseas police station in lower Manhattan.”