The Canadian woman recently arrested by Belgian authorities on suspicion of spying appears to have worked for multiple government agencies before her NATO internship.
A CBC News investigation has identified the woman as Biwei Zhang, a systems engineer with a background in economics who has previously worked for the Canadian Space Agency and Statistics Canada.
Zhang’s public and professional profiles match the information Belgian prosecutors provided, which described the suspect as a “Canadian national of Chinese origin” who was an intern at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), the military headquarters of NATO in Mons, Belgium.
Canadian intern at NATO military headquarters in Belgium faces spying charges
The suspect’s home and workplace at SHAPE were searched last Thursday, according to a media release from the Federal Prosecutor’s Office. She was reportedly arrested a day later on charges of “espionage and participation in a criminal organisation.”
Belgian courts do not publicly identify defendants in criminal investigations until the trial. As such, the Belgian prosecutor’s office would not confirm the identity of the alleged spy or her counsel, telling CBC News it “never disclose[s] the identities of individuals suspected in ongoing investigations,” an approach aligned with its “respect for the presumption of innocence, which must be guaranteed under all circumstances.”
However, using open-source investigative techniques, CBC matched the description of Belgian authorities with identifying information on Zhang’s LinkedIn, Facebook and Threads profiles, as well as her graduate thesis and a federal court case.
While Biwei Zhang appears to be her legal name, she uses the name Claire Zhang professionally, and goes by Catina Zhang on her Facebook profile.
In posts to two separate Facebook groups in July 2025, Zhang said she was looking for a room to rent in Mons as she began her internship. She also sought housing in Geneva in 2023 right before an internship at the World Trade Organization — dates that line up with her work experience on her LinkedIn profile.
The details also match information reported by Reuters earlier this week, which identified the woman as Claire Z. A security source told Reuters she was working in SHAPE’s IT department, which is consistent with Zhang’s background in computer science and systems engineering, for which she completed a master’s degree at the University of Ottawa in 2022.
The source also described her as “not a student” and “in her 30s,” information that matched Zhang’s professional profile. Her Facebook username, “biwei.zhang.93,” also suggests she may have been born in 1993, which would make her 32 or 33 years old.
Similar identifying details were reported by independent European investigative news outlet Follow the Money and its media partners on Tuesday.
Zhang did not immediately respond to CBC’s requests for comment on her LinkedIn and Facebook profiles.
Belgian officials say the alleged spy will remain in pretrial custody for at least another month as the investigation continues.
The case has also raised concerns around the efficacy of Canada’s security screening processes, prompting Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree to commit to investigating whether the person in question worked for any Canadian agencies.
“Ultimately, we need to get to the bottom of this, and we need to ensure that these types of incidents do not occur in the future,” Anandasangaree said.
Minister commits to ‘get to the bottom’ of Canadian NATO intern spying allegations
According to her LinkedIn profile, Zhang has held a range of positions at federal agencies, including as a data scientist for the National Research Council for six months in 2017, an economist for StatsCan from April 2018 to October 2022, and then as a systems engineer at the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) from May 2022.
She also lists experience as a policy analyst for the European Space Agency, and the economic research and statistics division of the World Trade Organization, as well as positions on “mirror committees” of the Standards Council of Canada, a Crown corporation that acts as “Canada’s voice on standards and accreditation on the international stage.”
In an emailed statement, the European Space Agency said it applies standard screening procedures for positions that do not require security clearance, and relies on “the relevant National Security Authority [to] conduct a comprehensive vetting process of the individual concerned” when classified information is involved.
The CSA acknowledged CBC’s request for comment but did not provide a response by publication time.
A spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada told CBC News that the Canadian government “makes the final decision to grant, deny, or revoke security clearances for Canadians seeking positions with international organizations, including NATO” following Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) security assessments.
Global Affairs refused to comment on the specific case “as it is the subject of an ongoing investigation.”
Ottawa vows to ‘get to the bottom’ of spying allegations against Canadian NATO intern
Zhang also requested a judicial review of a Public Service Commission of Canada finding that she committed fraud in an application for a position at the Canada Border Services Agency by applying under two different names and emails and failing to later clarify whether she had submitted multiple applications.
A federal judge dismissed the case in August 2024.
Former CSIS intelligence officer Dan Stanton told CBC News that while he does not have direct knowledge of the case, he can see why NATO would be concerned about possible intelligence breaches.
He says intern positions are an “excellent in-road” that he likened to “an Achilles heel” for an organization like NATO.
“Most of the biggest secrets in espionage aren’t as a result of stealing files or accessing data banks. It’s conversations, it’s hearing things,” said Stanton, now the director of the national security program at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute.
Still, the former spy sees the investigation as a “good news story.”
“In the world of counter-espionage, these types of things happen,” he said.
“It’s proof that our processes work.”
