Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe

If an individual has already been identified as having engaged in dishonest behavior during a federal government employment process, Shouldn't that information be available to the people responsible for determining whether that individual can be trusted with classified information? And if that information isn't being shared, what other warning signs might be slipping through the cracks? Regular listeners may remember that we discussed this very issue during our October 9th episode of Global Intelligence Weekly Wrap-Up.

The case involved Biwei Zhang, also known as Claire Zhang, a Canadian national arrested by Belgian authorities on the 24th of July, Zhang had been working as an intern at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, or SHAPE, in Mons, Belgium.

She was arrested on allegations involving espionage for a third country and participation in criminal organization.

Reuters reported that the allegations were linked to China, although Chinese embassy rejected suggestions that Zhang had been spying for Beijing.

I followed that with a three-month mini fellowship in total joint arthroplasty at the Royal National Orthopedic Hospital in London, England, which included visits to Charlie's Place up in Wigan.

Following that, I remained in Europe, and served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps from January 1968 through December 1970 as Chief of Orthopedic Surgery at the hospital at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe in Southern Belgium, and then Chief of Orthopedic Surgery at the 33rd Field Hospital serving the 3rd Armored Division in Würzburg, Germany.

After that, I joined the faculty of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco, where I was the assistant chief to Ted Bovell in the Department of Orthopedics at San Francisco General Hospital and joined up with the team and their level one trauma center there.

From 78 to 79, I did an NIH Fogarty International Research Fellowship in the E.O. Davos Research Institute in Davos, Switzerland.

Um, uh, my space background is really help companies navigate the, uh, the terrain of partnering with the US government, the Department of War, uh, the US Space Force, or meeting NATO capability, NATO countries' capability.

Um, because again, there's a lot of space capability that's needed, and SHAPE's trying to determine their requirements right now, but really understanding and navigating that land space and that terrain.

I think that's where I can provide some value, is really understanding the requirement space, being an operator.

Again, I'm not an acquirer, I'm an operator.

Belgian authorities arrested the woman on July twenty-fourth of this year on allegations of espionage for a third country in participation in a criminal organization.

She worked at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, or SHAPE, in Mons, Belgium.

Associated Press reported that NATO security services raised concerns with Belgian military intelligence leading to the investigation.

CBC identified the suspect as Baiwei Zhang, also known professionally as Claire Zhang.

Yes.

SHAPE, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, was relocated to a site near Mons in the southern Wallonia region of Belgium.

And by tradition, the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, the head of SHAPE, is always a United States military general.

So you have a massive permanent footprint of American military leadership, along with thousands of U.S. military families living right there in the Belgian countryside.

However, we are looking after the flock over the border as well, in a way.

So we've got the British forces based at SHAPE, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe in Belgium, and also the team at JFC Brunssum.

who are sort of part of the gang of BFBS Germany.

And so I think the thing that would summarize the September that we've just had is that we went to visit them as well as being here in Senelaga.