Ex-CIA officer gets 10 years in prison for spying for China

A former CIA officer and contract linguist for the FBIwho received cash, golf clubs and other expensive gifts in exchange for spying for China was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison.

Alexander Yuk Ching Ma, 71, made a deal in May with federal prosecutors, who agreed to recommend the 10-year term in exchange for his guilty plea to a count of conspiracy to gather or deliver national defense information to a foreign government.

The deal also requires him to submit to polygraph tests, whenever requested by the U.S. government, for the rest of his life.

A U.S. judge approved the deal Wednesday and handed down the agreed-upon sentence, according to court records.

Without the deal, Ma faced up to life in prison. He would have been allowed to withdraw from the agreement if Watson rejected the 10-year sentence.

Ma was born in Hong Kong, moved to Honolulu in 1968 and became a U.S. citizen in 1975. He joined the CIA in 1982, was assigned overseas the following year, and resigned in 1989.

He held a top secret security clearance, according to court documents.

Ma lived and worked in Shanghai, China, before returning to Hawaii in 2001, and at the behest of Chinese intelligence officers, he agreed to arrange an introduction between officers of the Shanghai State Security Bureau and his older brother — who had also served as a CIA case officer.