Yu Qiangsheng

Yu Qiangsheng
俞强声
Yu circa 1960
Born1940 (1940)
Died2013(2013-00-00) (aged 72–73)
CitizenshipPeople's Republic of China
United States (from 1986)
Alma materUniversity of International Relations
Employers
Political partyChinese Communist Party (–1986)
Parents
Family
Espionage activity
AllegianceUnited States (from 1980)
AgencyCentral Intelligence Agency
Service years1980–1986
CryptonymPLANESMAN
OperationsJADE POWDER

Yu Qiangsheng (Chinese: 俞强声; 1940 – 2013) was a former high-ranking Chinese intelligence officer who defected to the United States in 1985. Born into an elite princeling family, Yu ascended the ranks of China's Ministry of State Security (MSS), rising to lead the agency's North American operations. By that time, Yu had become a double agent, passing information to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) under the codename PLANESMAN. Described by his former FBI handler as "the ultimate risk taker", Yu was exfiltrated from China by way of Hong Kong in 1986 in operation JADE POWDER. The disclosures he made in his debriefing exposed CIA officer Larry Wu-Tai Chin as having been a mole for China for more than 40 years. Following his debriefing, Yu lived out the remainder of his life in the United States as a consultant for the intelligence services of the Five Eyes. He died in 2013.