CIA Aims to Lure Chinese Officials with Videos

DER SPIEGEL CIA Aims to Lure Chinese Officials with Videos 8 hrs. • 2 mins read On Thursday, the CIA released two videos in Mandarin in an attempt to recruit new informants from China. With this unusual approach, the US intelligence agency is attempting to penetrate the "Great Firewall." The CIA released two Chinese-language videos on Thursday aimed at persuading officials in China to share secrets with the US. This is the agency's latest public attempt to increase intelligence gathering on Washington's strategic rival. The two videos, posted on the CIA's social media accounts, depict fictional scenes: A senior Chinese Communist Party (CCP) official and a junior government official with access to classified information become disillusioned with the Chinese system and turn to the CIA. CIA Seeking Informants In an interview with Fox News, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said that one of the agency's primary functions is intelligence gathering. "We try to do this by recruiting individuals who can help us steal secrets," Ratcliffe added. This move comes as part of a campaign launched by the CIA in October to recruit new informants from China, Iran, and North Korea. Instructions for safely contacting the agency were published online. A previous attempt in Russia had already been successful. US Not Only Interested in Counterintelligence The CIA is therefore confident that the videos will penetrate China's "Great Firewall" internet restrictions and reach the desired audience. "If it didn't work, we wouldn't be making more videos," a CIA official told Reuters, adding that China is the agency's top intelligence priority in a "truly generational competition" between the US and China. The CIA official also stated that the US is not only interested in counterintelligence, but also in information about China's advanced science, military and cyber technology, valuable economic data, and foreign policy secrets. The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the videos. China has frequently accused the US of conducting a systematic disinformation campaign against it. US intelligence agencies stated in March that China remains the greatest military and cyber threat to the US.