BUNGLING WANNABE BOND BEHIND BARS

Inspector Clouseau

BUNGLING James Bond wannabe Glen Shriver has been busted for spying despite never actually gaining access to any secrets.

The 29-year-old Michigan man was jailed for four years after admitting he took $70k from Chinese spies while attempting to secure jobs that would give him access to government intel.

But despite applying for both the CIA and the U.S Foreign service he: ‘never came close,’ to getting into either.

Instead he took money from his Chinese officers, who’d approached him back in 2004 after he answered an English-language ad seeking someone with an East Asian studies background to write a paper on U.S.-Chinese relations.

They began to recruit him they encouraged him to seek out U.S. government jobs that would give him access to classified documents.

Glen Shriver

He said: "By the time I came to realize I was in this situation, it was too late. admitting that greed kicked in and served as the primary motivation for continuing to work with the Chinese officers.”

But if they thought they’d found their Bond, in fact Shriver was more like Inspector Clouseau.  

In 2005 and 2006, Shriver took the Foreign Service exam failing both times.

But his Chinese handlers gave him $10,000 for his first attempt and $20,000 for his second.

Then in 2007, Shriver applied for a job with the CIA, something government insiders have laughed off saying was never really close to landing a job with the corporation.

Still, he got $40,000 for his efforts.

Shriver apologized for his actions in court and said he almost felt relieved that he had been caught.

He said: "I cannot tell you what it's like to carry a dark secret like this for so many years.”

The plea agreement required the judge to impose a four-year term, no more no less. The judge said he thought the sentence was appropriate.

In a statement, Neil MacBride, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said that "Mr. Shriver sold out his country and repeatedly sought a position in our intelligence community so that he could provide classified information to (China). “Attempts to gain access to sensitive information are a serious threat to our national security.

“We are doing everything in our power to find and punish those who seek to betray our country."