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William Evanina, the recently departed head of the U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center, says Chinese espionage and covert hacking operations are costing America “around $500 billion a year in economic losses, just in the theft of intellectual property and trade secrets.”

The loss boils down to“$4,000 for every American family of four after taxes,” Evanina told SpyTalk podcast co-host Jeanne Meserve in an interview released on Thursday.

“So when someone says what it's not that big of a deal, I think American families would say otherwise,” said Evanina, who before his appointment to run the NCSC was a highly regarded FBI supervisory special agent.

Evanina also cited Chinese advances in cell phone devices and technology as a grave and growing national security threat.

“China currently has 55 percent ownership of the global smartphone [market], soon to have 65 percent in three years. That means they can listen and take data from every one of those phones around the globe.”

Ch…