The briefing also says that U.S. businesses and even visitors could be the target of violent Chinese nationalist protests and that traveling around the traffic-snarled capital while its mass transit system strains to cope with the extra riders will likely prove a "logistical challenge."

The briefing was prepared by the Overseas Security Advisory Council, a partnership between the State Department and the private sector that provides security advice for U.S. businesses operating abroad. In a webcast and written briefing documents, details of which were obtained by UPI from private-sector sources, OSAC assesses the potential threats faced by U.S. corporate visitors to the games.

The briefing says several Chinese security agencies -- including local police, a national paramilitary force and hundreds of thousands of volunteers -- will have an "overwhelming security presence" in Beijing, especially in the area of the Olympic venues. It says this will likely reduce crime and cancel out the usual increase in petty crimes like theft associated with large urban events.

But both British and German authorities have warned this year of aggressive corporate and economic espionage efforts by the Chinese, and the briefing cautions that the Olympics will present a target-rich environment for such activities.

"The large numbers of corporate employees and VIPs together in a festival-like setting offer would-be information thieves a unique opportunity to illicitly obtain trade secrets and proprietary information," it states.

Laptops, smartphones and other wireless devices like BlackBerrys or PDAs "offer potential information thieves multiple opportunities," it continues. "Laptops especially may contain critical files, and if at all possible, it is recommended that members of the U.S. private sector do not bring them into the country."

Earlier this year, according to reports in the British press, an aide to Prime Minister Gordon Brown was seduced in a Beijing nightclub and his smartphone was stolen.

Even sanitizing computers before taking them is not secure, because, while there, "Trojan viruses and bugs may be planted on them, endangering an organization's network back in the United States."

The briefing says many companies completely wipe the memory of anything they bring back, or else "forensically examine and physically inspect (returning) devices to identify any malware or monitoring devices that may have been placed in them overseas."

The briefing also notes "a heightened level of Internet activity monitoring" in China -- especially in hotels -- and urges visitors to "assume all electronic communications are being monitored, including telephone calls and Internet activity."

While some companies use encryption or virtual private networks to guard against monitoring of their e-mail or Internet activity, "One should assume that any data transmitted while in China is open to interception," the briefing concludes.

No one at the Chinese Embassy in Washington could be reached for comment, but officials have dismissed concerns like those in the OSAC briefing, which first was reported by USA Today.

And at least one computer security specialist says things are no worse in China than anywhere else.

"We haven't seen any evidence that the Chinese government is any more aggressive in this regard than many other countries," Alan Komet, vice president of marketing for Israeli computer security company Promisec, told UPI.

"You think the communications of foreign businessmen in other countries aren't monitored? �� The threat is no different in China than elsewhere," he said.

He added that the concerns expressed by U.S. officials about China were "more to do with U.S. foreign policy than with the real situation on the ground."

The OSAC briefing also touches on other security threats, like the potential for various kinds of political protests or demonstrations, and the possible overload of Beijing's mass transit infrastructure.

It says, "Conditions near Olympic venues may be chaotic and crowded with long waits" as large crowds converge on entrances where spectators will have to pass through security checkpoints.

Chinese Olympic officials are encouraging the use of buses and subways, notes the briefing, adding, "The currently crowded conditions in many portions of the Beijing public transport system suggest that public transport will be seriously tested during the Games, potentially to the point of significant overcapacity. �� New security checkpoints placed at subway stations will likely exacerbate this challenge."

As for protests, the briefing says Chinese authorities likely will try to pre-empt or quickly close down any protests by visiting human-rights or pro-Tibet activists but that a greater risk is the reaction such demonstrations might provoke.

"As international protest groups continue to use the Games as a stage for their causes, nationalist counterprotests will likely continue as well," the briefing says, warning, "If nationalists decide to target the United States, as they have targeted France and Japan, the U.S. private sector could face similar demonstrations" to the violent anti-French protests earlier this year.

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