Counterintelligence

Espionage: Is the defense and intelligence community compromised?

Insights into a late draft of a report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission were leaked last week, and the information is quite concerning. 

The report allegedly stated: “The United States faces a large and growing threat to its national security from Chinese intelligence collection operations.” That should not be shocking for anyone in the defense industry, but the following should be: “Among the most serious threats are China’s efforts at cyber and human infiltration of U.S. national security entities,” the draft reportedly read. 

That’s right — covert agents are inside of organizations within our national security community. The report is also said to call out Chinese espionage efforts that resulted in the exfiltration of U.S. military weapons designs and blueprints of their systems. This could result in the mineralization of years of research and development efforts by the military and the U.S. defense industry.