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Welcome to SpyC, the official podcast of the International Spy Museum.

I'm your host, Sasha Inber, and each week I take you into the shadows of espionage,

intelligence, and covert operations across the globe.

Katrina Leong, codename parlor-maid, received nearly $2 million from the FBI for being their top China informant.

But little did the Bureau know she was a double agent, collecting intelligence for China's

Ministry of State Security. And she was sleeping with her FBI handler, James J. Smith.

For nearly two decades, JJ covered up reports that

raised red flags about her. That's where retired FBI agent Stephen Conley comes in. He worked for

JJ in the L.A. field office. And then he became Katrina's new handler. And he realized she wasn't exactly providing

useful information. Ultimately, he helped extract two painful confessions in a case that

damaged the FBI's reputation for years. Here's our conversation.

Steve, welcome to SpyCast.

Hi, Sasha. Thanks for having me.

So how did Katrina Leung come to the attention of the FBI in 1981? And what did the

Bureau see in her that could be valuable?

So Katrina Leung, she came to the attention of the FBI in 81

because of a huge espionage investigation going on up in San Francisco, a code word tiger trap.

Essentially, China unveiled their neutron bomb and it looked remarkably similar to the United States neutron bomb.

So they opened an investigation. They determined technology was stolen. They trace it back to Lawrence

Livermore National Lab in San Francisco, and they start focusing on a guy named Menguow.

And again, through the investigation, they determined that Katrina Leung is a close

...