U.S. Grapples with Intelligence Threat from China
By DAVID MORGAN, REUTERS
06/10/05
China, whose surging growth feeds an incessant appetite for U.S. technology, poses a growing intelligence threat that the United States may be ill-equipped to combat, current and former U.S. officials say.
With the Bush administration embroiled in Iraq and the war on terrorism, intelligence experts fear it may be ignoring a determined Chinese strategy to acquire sensitive technology with commercial and military applications through informal spy networks, with potentially thousands of operatives.
Such efforts could eventually erode U.S. economic and military prominence, officials and analysts said.
The FBI lacks resources to cope, they said. Also, U.S. corporations face business pressure to transfer key research and development facilities into China in exchange for promised access to its massive domestic market.
Some U.S. companies, which have been fined over the practice, have even struck illicit deals providing China with technology to upgrade its missile systems.
“I would say that we are not paying … adequate attention to (China), because we have been so diverted by the issues of the war on terrorism,” John Gannon, former chairman of the National Intelligence Council, said at a forum this week.
Chinese officials deny suggestions of spying.
“The allegation of China’s threat is totally groundless,” said Chu Maoming, spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington.
Spies from about 100 countries sought sensitive U.S. technology last year, according to a report by the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive.
The most determined efforts came from only a handful of nations, including China, Russia, France, Iran, North Korea and Cuba, counterintelligence officials said.
China is viewed as the most serious threat, they said. It needs foreign technology to maintain robust economic growth that attracts overseas investment and creates jobs for a vast population, still beset by poverty and unemployment, analysts said.
‘Front’ Companies
As a result, they said, China has adopted a variety of acquisition methods, including licensing, theft, cooperation and espionage — some legal and some illegal.
China has about 3,000 “front” companies in the United States that exist mainly to obtain sensitive U.S. technology, according to government estimates cited by experts.
Some 300,000 Chinese citizens and 15,000 Chinese delegations visit the United States annually. An estimated 150,000 Chinese students are at U.S. universities; many are destined for jobs at high-tech U.S. firms or national research facilities.
The Chinese government assumes such individuals “will be intelligence collectors. And many are,” said I.C. Smith, a former U.S. counterintelligence official.
A main strategy is for people to collect small pieces of intelligence that can be assembled into a useful intelligence picture, counterintelligence officials said.
Current and former officials expressed doubts about the U.S. ability to deal with China’s intelligence efforts, especially as it is embroiled in Iraq and the war on terrorism.
The FBI scaled back its China program sharply after the Cold War ended a decade ago, and still appears to lack resources, despite a subsequent buildup.
“The fact is they need appropriate resources to deal with this, and privately they’ve said they’re severely understaffed,” said Peter Brookes, a former Pentagon official now at the Heritage Foundation.
FBI credibility has also suffered from lapses, including the bungled investigation of Wen Ho Lee, the former Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory physicist accused of spying for China until the allegations collapsed for lack of evidence.
— Additional reporting by Paul Eckert.
Thanks for the ping!
Saw a piece on Fox yesterday by a China/nuclear weapons expert. He said China's been stealing, buying every nuclear secret for years...thanks Clinton...and has the blueprints of every single nuclear missile the US ever made. They've sold these secrets and parts to all comers, Pakistan, Russia, Syria, Iraq, Iran, etc.. We begged them to stop, and they said, okay, we won't sell anything like that. When sales continued, they said it was 'rogue' elements, not the govt. selling them. One missile in particular, something like 467K, anyway, it can be fitted in the back of a pickup truck, which makes it extremely attractive to Islamofascists aiming to blow up the US and Israel. They're lining up around the block for this missile. Really frightening interview.