Site Map, Advertise| Intelligence and Espionage in the 21st Century The United States charged the group with stealing airline engine technology from French and U.S. companies. In October, the U.S. passed sweeping new export controls on China. The Administration and Congress should also look for ways to make these kinds of tools multilateral, working with foreign governments to ensure that foreign countries do not import products made with stolen U.S. IP and that the U.S. does not import products made with stolen foreign IP. Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence).A person who commits espionage is called an espionage agent or spy. Persons subject to the UCMJ may be subject to punitive action Although the Obama administration never sanctioned any Chinese individuals or companies using these authorities, it did use the potent threat of sanctions, as well as criminal prosecutions and significant high-level diplomatic engagement, to convince China to enter into a 2015 agreement in which Chinese President Xi agreed that China would not knowingly support cyber-enabled theft intellectual property for commercial gain. For physical searches, the government must show that the place to be searched contains "foreign intelligence information" and that it is used, owned, or possessed by an agent of a foreign power or a foreign power. Figure 2: Chinese Organizational Clusters Committing Espionage. Within the FBI, we are focused on the most dangerous malicious cyber activity: high-level intrusions by state-sponsored hackers, global organized crime syndicates, and other technically sophisticated and dangerous actors. These illicit activities pose a significant threat to national security and continue to be a priority and focus of the FBI. Through the Internet, terrorists anywhere overseas now have direct access to our local communities to target and recruit our citizens and spread their message faster than was imagined just a few years ago. Reporting threats to your Facility Security Officer or Supervisor. Members of the Committee may have seen recent press reports about marketing firms and hedge funds buying cell phone location data showing the near-real time locations of tens of millions of Americans going about their daily routines. However, other influence operations may include targeting U.S. officials and other U.S. persons through traditional intelligence tradecraft; criminal efforts to suppress voting and provide illegal campaign financing; concealing efforts to influence U.S. government activities, cyber attacks against voting infrastructure, along with computer intrusions targeting elected officials and others; and a whole slew of other kinds of influence, like both overtly and covertly manipulating news stories, spreading disinformation, leveraging economic resources, and escalating divisive issues. This is due, in part, to their lack of a direct connection with an FTO, an ability to rapidly mobilize, and the use of encrypted communications. The industry-leading media platform offering competitive intelligence to prepare for today and anticipate opportunities for future success. China needs to understand that if it tries to steal U.S. technology, it will not be able to benefit from it. The poor performance in oversight and case management is possibly due to the highly politicized nature (CCP management) of Chinese intelligence. Espionage, as that term is traditionally used, involves trained intelligence professionals Top counterintelligence official Mike Orlando on foreign espionage Get FBI email alerts This has taken several forms. Note as much as possible The wide variance in sophistication of espionage tradecraft implies the idea of Islands of Excellence (see Figure 6) meaning China employs espionage tradecraft with varying degrees of sophistication and effectiveness. 9. Your article was successfully shared with the contacts you provided. Recent high-profile announcements such as the Marriott hotel companys acknowledgement last week that cyber intruders had accessed the personal information of 500 million customers bring home the fact that despite billions of dollars of corporate investment in cybersecurity in recent years, many corporate networks remain all too vulnerable. China orders companies to step up monitoring of foreigners in anti But the underlying statute itself still arguably fails to cover a range of information collection and influence activities that China and other nations carry out in the United States. Fourth, Congress should consider amendments to the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) or other legislation to require better disclosure about Chinese operations in the United States. There has also been a large rise in Section 337 investigations. If you feel you are being solicited for information, which of the following should you do? Fortunately, efforts here in Congress, including by Chairman Grassley and other members of this Committee, have drawn public attention to this issue, and Assistant Attorney General Demers and the Department of Justice have significantly expanded FARA enforcement. Outright theft of U.S. and western intellectual property (IP) is a key piece of Chinas strategy, but it is only a piece. Up to life imprisonment Similarly, much of the responsibility for responding to Chinese efforts to infiltrate U.S. academic institutions will fall on those institutions themselves. CIA's Supremacy in Global Spy Ring and Hammering Russian Intelligence Top 10 Cases Of Espionage Against The US - Toptenz.net Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the current threats to the United States homeland. Non-DoD civilians may face sanctions. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS), an Executive Branch committee chaired by the Department of Treasury, was statutorily created to address potential risks to U.S. national security resulting from foreign acquisitions or mergers with U.S. companies. This is perfect for attorneys licensed in multiple jurisdictions or for attorneys that have fulfilled their CLE requirement but need to access resourceful information for their practice areas. 2023 Diplomat Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. As Australias military ties with the U.S. deepen, the Top End becomes even more vital to Australian security. Foreign Intelligence Threats Traditional FIE Activity includes: Foreign Intelligence Entities operating Many of the government mobile espionage efforts examined had roots in campaigns designed to spy on targets of interest of some of the nations covered in this report for political purposes. First, I will offer an assessment of aspects of the threat. Historically, economic espionage has targeted defense-related and high-tech industries. 18 U.S.C. Section 951 and the Non'Traditional Intelligence Actor We, along with our law enforcement partners, face significant challenges in identifying and disrupting HVEs. Only 10% of Russian spy operations in Europe uncovered, says former MI6 In addition to the threat posed by foreign influence, the FBI is also concerned about foreign investment by hostile nation states. Such crimes are not limited to the United States and, with the aid of Internet like-minded hate groups, can reach across borders. What Joseph L. Rini Knows, Attorney Rachel Y. Marshall A Pillar of Strength for the Community, SpotDraft Raises $26 Million in Series A Funding for AI-Powered Legal Software, Access to the entire ALM network of websites, Unlimited access to the ALM suite of newsletters, Build custom alerts on any search topic of your choosing. The alleged scheme ran from 2010 to 2015 and targeted turbofan engine technology developed through a U.S.-French partnership. The world of espionage is facing tremendous technological, political, legal, social, and commercial changes. For U.S. government leaders, I offer five specific recommendations: First, the Trump administration should expand the use of U.S. legal authorities to target companies that engage in and/or benefit from economic espionage: Both the Chinese government and individual Chinese companies need to understand that economic espionage carries costs, not just benefits. Beware of being overheard We expect this trend to continue. APT41 has been active since as early as 2012. While continued counterterrorism pressure has degraded the groups Afghanistan-Pakistan senior leadership, in the near term, al Qaeda is more likely to focus on building its international affiliates and supporting small-scale, readily achievable attacks in key regions such as east and west Africa. Each attorney is granted unlimited access to high quality, on-demand premium content from well-respected faculty in the legal industry along with administrative access to easily manage CLE for the entire team. A 2014 estimate by the Center for Responsible Trade and Enterprise (CREATe) and PriceWaterhouseCoopers argued that the cost of trade secret theft could amount to between 1 percent and 3 percent of GDP annually. The governing Chinese Communist Party (CCP) uses government, quasi-government, academic, and commercial entities as mechanisms to conduct all forms f espionage abroad. Emily Kilcrease & Michael Frazer. The second major U.S. government response has been increasingly aggressive Justice Department efforts to prosecute Chinese spies. (1) Each provision of this Act specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, in accordance with column 2 of the table. The target is now hooked. Unexplained or undue affluence A number of countries have mounted aggressive economic espionage campaigns here that vacuum up advanced United States These information objectives include systems, designs, components, radiation hardened chips, integrated circuits, software, manuals, precision optics, thermal imaging systems, production techniques, etc. The new era of counterintelligence must shift focus to the gray zone Each of these technologies is identified as apriority requirementin Chinas State Council2015 strategic plan Made in China 2025.. Foreign Intelligence Threats Traditional FIE Activity includes: Foreign Intelligence Entities operating The bottom line is that if there is information out there that China thinks is of value, the odds are that China has or will try to steal it. Setbacks Prosecuting Trump Allies Highlight Challenges in Foreign U.S. policymakers however, have rightly sought to aggressively deter and punish Chinese espionage intended to steal trade secrets and other IP from the U.S. private sector that is then transferred to Chinese companies for commercial advantage, and to crack down on other forms of unconventional espionage that threaten Americas technological, economic, and military edge. This Committee and the Congress as a whole should consider legislative reforms to expand the reach of FARA or to adopt other disclosure legislation that would ensure that Chinese activities related to universities and other non-profits are fully subject to public disclosure requirements. The SCA would require such reports to include "an evaluation" of foreign government assisted "malign influence or espionage activities" directed at IHEs "aimed at obtaining research and development methods or secrets related to critical technologies." Taking short trips. In recent years we have broadly seen two types of Chinese espionage targeting U.S. colleges and universities. Asia, Southeast What do we know about him? For example, the Trump Administration and this Congress have taken action to restrict the use of Chinese-made network equipment in U.S. telecommunications networks over concern that such equipment could facilitate Chinese espionage in the U.S. There are 150,000 SOEs in China, 50,000 of which are owned by the central government and include aerospace and defense companies, research institutes, technology transfer organizations. ISIS uses traditional media platforms as well as widespread social media campaigns to propagate its ideology. Espionage - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics The government must also provide a description of the information sought and the places or facilities that will be searched. for Us, The CCPs Organization Department makes all senior personnel appointments. TARP Training Flashcards | Quizlet This was often the case in illegal export of military technology, source code, large-scale agricultural and industrial production and manufacturing techniques. Removing markings. If Beijing sees no path to a cooperative economic relationship with Washington and instead believes that it will face mounting U.S. pressure regardless of any concessions Beijing may offer, Beijing will have little incentive to curb its efforts to steal U.S. technology. Practice good Operations security A number of cyber security firms reported a drop in suspected China-linked attacks in the year following the agreement, and in late 2016 the CEO of the CrowdStrike cybersecurity firm called the change in Chinas behavior the biggest success weve had in this arena in 30 years. However, Justice Department indictments and U.S. government reports indicate that there has been a substantial uptick in Chinese hacking over the past year, and so it remains unclear how much the agreement has or will affect Chinese behavior over the long-term. These diverse threats underscore the complexity and breadth of the FBIs mission: to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution of the United States. Our adversaries are continuously trying to undermine our country, whether it is election season or not. The term includes foreign intelligence and security services, international terrorists, Peter Harrell. Espionage and counterespionage have been essential tools of statecraft for centuries, of course, and U.S. and Chinese intelligence agencies have been battling one another for decades. We live in a time of acute and persistent terrorist and criminal threats to our national security, our economy, and indeed our communities. Over the last five years, I compiled and analyzed 274 cases of Chinese espionage that have occurred since the year 2000. In intelligence terminology, information objectives identify the specific information (or technology) that is tasked for collection. 19 This cycle generally involves five steps: tasking, collection, processing and evaluating, analysis and production, and feedback. I will also briefly touch on Chinas espionage tools with respect to U.S. universities and other non-governmental organizations here in the United States and in allied nations. The task force now brings together the FBIs expertise across the waterfrontcounterintelligence, cyber, criminal, and even counterterrorismto root out and respond to foreign influence operations. 3488, enacted October 11, 1996 deals with industrial espionage (e.g., the theft or misappropriation of a trade secret and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act) and four other areas of action that Congress deemed appropriate and the United States Sentencing Commission reports regarding encryption or . China has also tried to hack think tanks to understand policy and think tank engagement with government officials. Traditional espionage encompasses a government's efforts to acquire clandestinely classified or otherwise protected information from a foreign government. The U.S. Intelligence Community is a federation of executive branch agencies and organizations that work separately and together to conduct intelligence activities necessary for the conduct of foreign relations and the protection of the national security of the United States. Intercepts of cell phones or wireless signals, 1. Foreign Intelligence Agency-What do they want? I would add that U.S. universities should also increase the scrutiny of their collaborative research projects with Chinese institutions and researchers to make sure that U.S. institutions are not inadvertently facilitating the transfer of proprietary and/or sensitive technology and expertise to China, while continuing to engage in legitimate and positive research collaborations. The foreign intelligence officer begins pay the target for his efforts. I will address three issues in my testimony before you this morning. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. The U.S. government has steadily increased its response to the threat of China's unconventional espionage. As a country we should work to capture that talent here and make sure that it stays in the U.S. Much research and development also works more effectively when scientists and engineers are able to collaborate across borders. frequent questionable foreign travel Chinas preeminent civilian intelligence agency is the Guojia Anquan Bu, or Ministry of State Security (MSS). All Rights Reserved. by a rival foreign government. The FBI is the lead agency for exposing, preventing, and investigating intelligence activities in the U.S. Because much of today's spying is accomplished by data theft from computer networks,. Foreign officials reveal details they should not have known. Gain access to some of the most knowledgeable and experienced attorneys with our 2 bundle options! Figure 3: Distribution of Chinese Espionage Cases in the United States. In the spotting phase the foreign intelligence officer identifies the target. Chinese military sources can tell us exactly what the PLA is learning. Annual Report to Congress on Foreign Collection and Industrial A joint effort would provide an integrated approach to disrupt China's espionage activities which generally fall into one (or more) of five categories: Traditional espionage (18 USC 792-799 . Chinas information objectives are focused in priority sectors and technologies. Chinese theft of U.S. intellectual property has been one of the major legal and policy rationales for the Trump administrations Section 301 finding on China and subsequent imposition of tariffs on some $250 billion in Chinese goods imported into the United States. But China does not only steal corporate crown jewels like trade secrets: It targets a wide variety of information that can provide Chinese companies with commercial advantage. Along with our domestic and foreign partners, we are collecting and analyzing intelligence concerning the ongoing threat posed by foreign terrorist organizations and homegrown violent extremists. The Impact of Chinese Espionage on the United States We must seek out new technologies and solutions for the problems that exist today as well as those that are on the horizon. - ENFORCEMENT OF FEDERAL ESPIONAGE LAWS - GovInfo The only notable area in which China has shown minimal advancement has been in applying sophisticated espionage tradecraft. The charges included acting as an agent of a foreign government without notifying the attorney general, a charge the Justice Department has referred to as "espionage lite," a violation of . ISIS is not the only terrorist group of concern. DOJ used FARA to prosecute former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort and Trump fundraiser Elliott Broidy, and in its unsuccessful prosecution of former Obama White House Counsel Gregory Craig for his alleged lobbying efforts on behalf of Ukraine stemming from his private practice legal work. The initiative will prioritize cases of Chinese economic espionage and ensure that they are appropriately resourced. Over four years after the project was announced, updates remain scarce on China's first nuclear icebreaker. The reason for this is because Snowden did not provide information he obtained to a foreign government. Unexplained absences Advocating violence for terrorist organization Power, Crossroads Don't simply believe the the unexpected activity was coincidental The message is not tailored solely to those who overtly express signs of radicalization. The Trump administration should use CFIUS to block Chinese companies that have stolen U.S. technology from acquiring companies in the United States. without indicating you are uncomfortable, change any conversation that might be too proving with respect to your duties, private lift and coworkers U.S. Military or government site The Dragon's Game: A Deep Dive into China's Espionage Operations in the The Department of Justice has in recent years indicted numerous Chinese spies, hackers, and companies for their involvement in stealing U.S. IP. Economic Espionage and Cybersecurity Espionage comes in different forms. The category of traditional espionage can be seen at 18 percent; but is considerably lower when Taiwan is removed as a PRC intelligence target. Women, Influence & Power in Law UK Awards 2023, Legalweek Leaders in Tech Law Awards 2023, WORKERS COMPENSATION ATTORNEY - Hartford, CT, Offering an Opportunity of a Lifetime for Personal Injury Lawyers, What Does Your Business Agreement Really Mean? It has not been as easy for the United States to gain buy-in as some in Washington expected. When divided into the aforementioned categories (Espionage, Economic Espionage, ITAR, EAR, Covert Action) the 274 espionage cases show the percentages of operations as follows (Figure 1.). Several high-level conclusions can be drawn from the cases representing the last 20 years of Chinese espionage operations. These foreign competitors deliberately target economic intelligence in advanced technologies and successful U.S. industries. China-Based Customers Conducting Espionage Activities. Currently there are open investigations with a foreign influence nexus spanning FBI field offices across the country. Counterintelligence FBI - Federal Bureau of Investigation Proposals to allow hacking back are controversial because it is often difficult for a hacking victim to conclusively identify a hacker and there is concern that companies could hack back against an innocent party that was not actually involved in the original hacking. The third pillar of our approach is based on strong relationships with the private sector. We face threats from state-sponsored hackers, hackers for hire, organized cyber syndicates, and terrorists. Investigate and prosecute espionage activity against the United States The French engaged in economic espionage throughout the 1980s. Botnets used by cyber criminals have been responsible for billions of dollars in damages over the past several years. The FBI is working closely with partners in the Intelligence Community and in the federal government, as well as with state and local partners, to establish a common operating picture. FBI.gov is an official site of the U.S. Department of Justice. ), LTG Anthony R. "Tony" Ierardi, USA (Ret. Nonchalantly ask questions Failure to report may result in disciplinary action. But government tools must also be an important part of the U.S. government response. WASHINGTON - Russian government hackers breached the Treasury and Commerce departments, along with other U.S. government agencies, as part of a global espionage campaign that stretches back months . In many respects, the goals of this kind of espionage are similar to economic espionageto capture technological advances that could prove valuable to Chinese firms and potentially to the Chinese military.