On Wednesday (April 14), the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee held a public hearing on “Global Threats. FBI Director Christopher Wray said there are more than 2,000 investigations related to the Chinese Communist government, and the FBI opens a new investigation related to the Chinese Communist government every 10 hours.
National Intelligence Director Avril Haines, CIA Director William Burns, NSA Director Paul Nakasone and Defense Intelligence Agency Director Scott Berrier also attended the Senate hearing.
At the hearing, Ray said, “We start a new investigation into China [the Chinese Communist Party] every 10 hours, and I can assure the committee that it’s not because our people are idle.”
He added, “We now have more than 2,000 investigations related to the Chinese (Communist) government.”
He said economic espionage cases with ties to Beijing have increased by 1,300 percent in the past few years.
Ray’s comments came in response to a question from Sen. Macro Rubio (R-Fla.) about the influence of China and Russia.
“I don’t think there is a country that poses a more serious threat to our innovation, (to) our economic security and our democratic ideology. The tools in their [the Chinese Communist Party’s] toolbox to influence our businesses, our academic institutions, our government at all levels are broad and persistent.” Ray said.
Haynes, for his part, called the Chinese (CCP) threat “an unmatched priority” for the intelligence community.
Following an FBI investigation, the U.S. Department of Justice late last year indicted several individuals for allegedly attempting to threaten, coerce or harass certain U.S. residents with the intent to deport them to China. Eight individuals were charged with conspiracy to act within the United States as unlawful agents of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and six of the defendants also face charges of conspiracy to commit interstate and international stalking.
However, Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, began the hearing by emphasizing, “In addressing the challenges posed by the rise of the Chinese (CCP), our problem is the Chinese Communist Party, not the Chinese people or the global Chinese diaspora, and certainly not Asian Americans in the United States.”
CIA Director William Burns noted that “competition and technology will be central in the coming years as we confront an increasingly hostile Chinese Communist Party and Chinese (Communist) leadership.”
Officials said the intelligence community has a wide range of concerns about China.
For example, Hines told members of Congress that the intelligence community does not yet know “where, when or how” the COVID-19 virus was originally transmitted to humans, noting that the main element of suspicion is whether the virus was transmitted naturally from animals to humans or accidentally from a laboratory in Wuhan, China. A laboratory in Wuhan accidentally leaked the virus.
Burns noted that China (the Chinese Communist Party) has not yet communicated with global public health officials about the origin of the virus.
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