Kevin Mallory: The churchgoing patriot who spied for China

US officials say China is trying to influence US policymakers, steal secrets and spy on the US government. But how? The story of Kevin Mallory, a man who seemed to lead a typical suburban life in Virginia, provides the answer.

FBI agents pointed their weapons at Jeremiah Mallory, a teenager standing in the doorway of his house one morning in June 2017, and told him to get on his knees.

"They've got guns in his face," says Patsy Clark, a family friend. They were looking for evidence against his father, Kevin Mallory, a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer who had been spying for the Chinese government.

One of Mallory's neighbours, a dog walker, was heading down the block: "All of a sudden I hear this yelling."

The roar of helicopters woke another neighbour, Delrose Winter, who says she saw police cars and black vans at the house. Cameron Norris, a student who lived nearby, saw dogs searching the yard and FBI agents carrying boxes: "They were taking equipment out - a computer."

FBI agents searched Mallory's house, a place with a red banner covered in Chinese calligraphy that hung alongside the front door, his yard and, according to neighbours, a bridle path where he used to go on runs. His street in Raspberry Falls, a Leesburg subdivision, looked like a war zone, with helicopters circling in the air and armed men charging through the grass.