National security threat

Rebecca Grant: Chinese spying is major threat to US national security

...China’s plan for world dominance is not new. What’s changed is that Barr and his Justice Department and FBI teams now see America’s struggle with China as on a par with the Cold War, and even World War II. The twin goals in this round of the China Initiative are to raise awareness and to take aim for a fresh U.S. push against China’s potential dominance of the future Internet via 5G.

But the China threat is getting too big for the FBI to handle by itself. Chinese espionage against the United States has reached unprecedented levels – greater than anything seen in the Cold War. The FBI has over 1,000 cases ongoing, and has already arrested spies accused of infiltrating the State Department, CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency.

The FBI and Justice Department are “working their tails off” but “we can’t do it on our own,” Wray said. Wray wants “a whole of society response” in which the government, academic and private sectors working together.