Odd Lots - The Sixth Bureau, Episode 1: Your Friend From Nanjing

Episode Date: February 15, 2026

It’s an open secret that the Chinese government has engaged in a global campaign to acquire intellectual property from foreign rivals. At the center of that campaign is the Ministry of State Security, China’s elusive intelligence agency. The US has apprehended hundreds of people accused of giving information to the MSS, but the agency’s inner workings have been a mystery — until now. Today, we’re bringing you Episode 1 of The Sixth Bureau, a limited-run series from The Big Take. The series follows an MSS intelligence officer whose mission was to acquire the crown jewels of American aerospace companies. With aliases, blackmail and the occasional break-in, he targeted corporate giants. That is, until his sloppiness — and a cunning FBI sting — led to a stunning reversal: Xu Yanjun became the first Chinese intelligence officer ever convicted on American soil. Listen to Episode 2, available now in The Big Take.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bloomberg Audio Studios. Podcasts Radio News. Today date is Wednesday, April 25th, 2018. The time is 312 p.m. The following is a consensual body recording with the subject. G. Chow Chuen. The recording starts now.

There's a guy sitting in a red Chevy Malibu. in front of an apartment complex near downtown Chicago. He's waiting for someone to walk out of the apartment building. After a few minutes, the person does. He's young, and he's wearing a warm-up jacket and glasses. He has a buzz cut. His name is G. Chow Choon. The guy in the red car gets out, walks toward G, and yells to him in Mandarin.

Chowdhun. Are you Chi Chowdun? Yes. Hi. Hi. How may I help you? Is it a good time to talk? I beg your pardon?

It's something I like to talk to you about. We were all holding our breath because this is that interaction that we've prepared for. The two men are being watched. She's a little confused, a little flustered, and you can see that in his body language. He keeps this distance. You are a friend from Ranjin, say me to you.

This reference to Nanjing, it's code. It's a way of saying, hey, we know the same people. And G, he understands it. Oh, I get it now. I think at that point, G's demeanor relaxed, and their body language got closer. Is it a good time to talk? Roughly, how long will it take?

My car is parked over there in red. No problem, no problem. The two men walked towards the red car and get in. I'm not sure if you are aware. Something went down with the friends in Njini. I am not aware. Do you know whom I am referring to? G hesitates.

The man pulls out of his phone. Let me show you this. It's Xu Yanjin. Xu Yanjun. I have heard of him. Have you heard that something happened to him recently? I am not aware. The stranger says his name is Chen

and suggests that the two of them go somewhere more private than his car. He says he has a room at the Hyatt, which is nearby. At first, G tries to get out of him. I really don't have time right now. I apologize. But Chen pushes back.

This is important. When people have issues such as this talk with you, they come to me. But I do not want to talk too much about it because... Okay, I understand. Gee gives in. They drive to the hotel. And it was immediate. Let's start moving.

Let's start getting into place. So at that point, I left for the hotel and got to the hospital. and got to the lobby. Chen parks the car and the two men walk into the hotel. I am simply a spectator sitting near the hotel bar and enjoying my afternoon, but my true goal is to keep my eyes on the two individuals that are briskly walking into the hotel lobby

and making their way to the elevator. The two men take the elevator up to a room. G sits down at a small table at the foot of the unmade bed. He'd already gone into the hotel room and pleased a camera. Chen takes off his coat and drapes it over a chair. He's dressed like an accountant, a blue button down, khakis, and a cell phone holster. He closes the curtains, but that plunges the room into complete darkness, so he reopens them.

They both laugh awkwardly. Chen sits down. He pulls a sheet of paper out of his pocket, unfolds it, and hands up. it across the table. It's a recent article from a Belgian newspaper. Chinese spy arrested in Brussels at the request of the United States. The spy is Shu Yanjun, the same person Chen named dropped to Ji back in his car. G knows Xu Yanjun well. Shu works for China's Ministry of State Security, or MSS, and so does G.

Both of them are spies. We were aware of Ji Chow Choun's relationship with his MSS handler, Zhugeen. Our goal was to use the information that his handler was arrested. Chen tells G that the friends in Nanjing don't know how Shu Yanjun's cover was blown. We don't know if the problem was with your communications with them. We don't know why is the U.S. onto him. So I was sent to let you know to stop contacting them for now.

Okay. Chen warns G, you could now be in danger. He hands G a cell phone. He says G should only contact him from now on, and only on this device. Your handler was arrested. Don't talk to anybody else at this time. Any information that you need to relay back should go through me.

Chen's making it clear. I am now the only person you can trust. So they send me here to talk to you, but at this time, please stay low-key. Don't send them any test message. Don't send them re-chat messages, don't email them, because we don't know where things went on. So at light, nothing had happened, at normal. Uh-huh.

The two men leave the hotel room, and Chen drives Ji back to his apartment. Before Ji gets out of the car, Chen makes sure he has the cell phone. Did you grab the cell phone? Yes, it's in my pocket. Thank you for your help. Give me a bit of time. Don't tell anyone about this. Okay.

The whole interaction lasts about two hours. Ken drives off, parks, and speaks into a hidden microphone. Today day is April 25, 2018. The time is 503 p.m. ending the consensual monitoring. What G. didn't know that afternoon was that the stranger off the street, who knew his name and his biggest secret, was actually an undercover FBI agent.

And the person watching them was an agent. too. A lot of what the undercover agent had said to G was a lie. But one key detail was true. Shu Yanjun, G's MSS handler, had been arrested. To announce federal criminal charges for conspiracy to commit economic espionage and theft of trade secrets. Shue in federal court in Cincinnati. Shoe wasn't just G's handler. He was running MSS operations all over the world. And he was at the center of one of the most significant spy rings the FBI has ever taken down. The MSS is believed to be the world's largest intelligence agency.

But the people who work there are basically ghosts. We rarely learn their names, and even when we do, it's usually an alias. Shiyan Jun was the first intelligence officer ever to be lured out of China, arrested, and tried in the U.S. We had never been able to convict in the United States and put in prison a staff MSS officer. So it was very clear to me that we were making history. What this case cracked open for the first time was a view from inside the MSS, revealing thousands of pages of emails, chats, audio recordings, classified Chinese government documents, even Shu's personal diary.

It was just strange the way he kept records of everything, not only what happened, but his own feelings about them. I now have several terabytes of an MSS officer, no doubt, no question, of his life. And that's the unicorn. At the heart of Hsu's mission was an advanced technology that China has been after for years, one that has proven uniquely difficult to copy, much less surpassed. Ready for takeoff. Ready for take off, sir.

Stand by, Patago. The jet engine. The jet engine. One of the marvels of this century of marvels. It was a marvel when it was invented over 80 years ago, and it still is today. Only a few countries in the world know how to make them really well. China has said this is a national priority that we get this information.

The MSS was tasked to do it. It fell down to Zhu Yan Jun at that time. He's right out of central casting. Zhu is basically out there trying to steal corporate secrets. He's doing that with the full support and cooperation of his government. He did it multiple times over multiple years, right through an extensive network around the world. These are things that could be catastrophic. The idea that we could get shit.

It opens up so many doors to understanding what the Chinese government is up to, what information they have about us, how they work. It's like a once-in-a-lifetime kind of opportunity. The American people truly understood the scope of Chinese espionage inside the United States right now. They'd be shocked. They'd be outraged. It's the people of the United States who are the victims of what amounts to Chinese theft

on a scale so massive that it represents one of the largest transfers of women. wealth in human history. Stealing American technology, giving it to Chinese companies who can then undercut American companies and Americans go out of business. That is their stated goal. They want to replace the United States as the world's only superpower. And they're on track to do what they're claiming they're going to do. There's a lot of change and straight up chaos happening right now.

Some of it may end up being noise, but we are witnessing the formation of a new world order. And one thing's clear. China is the new economic and military superpower alongside the U.S. The two countries have been going head to head for the last few decades. Not that long ago, the U.S. was still ahead of China in almost every advanced technology. That time has passed. China's caught up in so many ways, thanks to a ton of investment, talent, innovation, and one more thing. Spying.

from Bloomberg News and IHeart podcast, this is the sixth bureau. I'm Jordan Robertson. And I'm Drake Bennett. This is a story of the inner workings of one of the world's most mysterious and powerful spy agencies and how one man's ambition and mistakes opened its vault of secrets. On the next episode, We are in the business of exploiting your weakness, your needs, your vulnerabilities. And we're good at it.

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