A former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) station chief recently warned that U.S. military members and employees of the federal government are in the “crosshairs” of China’s spy operations as China tries to access information related to the U.S. military.
Dan Hoffman, a former CIA station chief, told Fox News that China is likely targeting anyone in the U.S. military or the federal government to participate in various Chinese espionage operations.
“I think anybody who serves in the U.S. government is in the crosshairs. And China will do it,” Hoffman stated. “Sometimes they’ll run their recruitment operations posing as someone else. So maybe somebody doesn’t want to go spy for China, but they might pretend to be somebody else. Or they might contact you on social media, on LinkedIn or some other site and pose as someone not so nefarious when in fact they are.”
The former CIA station chief told Fox News that one of the Chinese government’s “highest requirement” is acquiring intelligence from the U.S. military.
“They want to recruit U.S. military because there’s a probability we might go to war with China, and not just U.S. military, but NATO members as well, and throughout Asia,” Hoffman said. “So they’ve got a massive intelligence apparatus.”
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In March, the Department of Justice announced that two active-duty U.S. Army soldiers, identified as Jian Zhao and Li Tian, and one former U.S. Army soldier, identified as Ruoyu Duan, had been arrested and charged for allegedly selling secret military information to China.
According to the Department of Justice, Tian and Duan were charged for conspiring to commit bribery and theft of government property, and Zhao was charged for conspiring to obtain and transmit national defense information to an individual not authorized to receive the information, for theft of government property, and for bribery.
Fox News reported that prosecutors said the espionage efforts involving Tian, Duan, and Zhao reflect China’s use of individuals trusted by Chinese intelligence organizations to obtain information that could benefit the Chinese government. According to Fox News, those individuals, known as “cut-outs,” are then used to recruit people with access to sensitive U.S. government information.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel previously addressed China’s espionage operations, saying, “While bribery and corruption have thrived under China’s Communist Party, this behavior cannot be tolerated with our service members who are entrusted with sensitive military information, including national defense information. The FBI and our partners will continue to work to uncover attempts by those in China to steal sensitive U.S. military information and hold all accountable who play a role in betraying our national defense.”
