Concurrent with this growth, foreign direct investment (FDI) in the U.S. has increasingly become a national security concern, as hostile nations leverage FDI to buy U.S. assets that will advance their intelligence, military, technology, and economic goals at the expense of U.S. national security. The industry-leading media platform offering competitive intelligence to prepare for today and anticipate opportunities for future success. They seek to hold our critical infrastructure at risk, to harm our economy and to constrain our free speech. Traditional espionage (18 USC 792-799): The practice of spying or using spies to obtain information about the plans and activities of a foreign government. If this is in fact the case then MSS performance is not likely to improve anytime soon. It is absolutely essential to stop Chinese unconventional espionage. The two countries appeared to quietly reaffirm the agreement in October 2017. Cleared contractor facility In 2017 and 2018, suspected China-linked hackers have targeted U.S. firms operating in sectors including cloud computing, artificial intelligence, internet connected devices, biotechnology, energy, robotics, transportation, agricultural machinery and other agricultural technology, and high-end medical devices. The Trump administration should also expand these efforts by deploying the sanctions authorities under E.O.s 13757 and 13694, which authorize Treasury to sanction people, companies, and entities that engage in a cyber-enabled espionage and other cyberattacks. Chinas information objectives are focused in priority sectors and technologies. Traditional espionage, often characterized by career foreign intelligence officers acting as diplomats or ordinary citizens, and asymmetric espionage, typically carried out by students, researchers, or businesspeople operating front companies, is prevalent. Regardless, it seems likely that China will continue to deploy hacking as a tool of gaining U.S. IP as U.S. policy developments like export control reform and new restrictions on Chinese investment in the U.S. restrict Chinas ability to legally and overtly acquire its desired technologies. 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. 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. Change the conversation Removing markings. Trust your instincts Lastly, in 27 cases, roughly 9 percent of the total, case officers and/or agents displayed a more sophisticated level of tradecraft. 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.). But universities risk being fertile place for this kind of espionage, given the open, international, and collaborative nature of most university research and universities legitimate interest in encouraging international collaboration. Be assured, the FBI continues to strive to work and share information more efficiently, and to pursue a variety of lawful methods to help stay ahead of these threats. Hostile actors conducting cyber espionage can target the government, military, business and individuals. Get briefed on the story of the week, and developing stories to watch across the Asia-Pacific. Due to online recruitment, indoctrination, and instruction, FTOs are no longer dependent on finding ways to get terrorist operatives into the United States to recruit and carry out acts of terrorism. Contact with international terrorist Persons subject to the UCMJ may be subject to punitive action frequent questionable foreign travel It is seen by many who enter messaging apps and participate in social networks. Espionage is now addressed by 3 offences in the Bill: obtaining or disclosing protected information; obtaining or disclosing trade secrets; and assisting a foreign intelligence service. Detailed analysis of these cases provides ample evidence that China is conducting espionage, as well who is responsible, their information objectives, gaps in their knowledge, and operational tradecraft techniques. Broadly speaking, the government response can be divided into three parts: encouraging better defense; prosecuting spies; and increasing costs in an effort to punish and deter unconventional spying. Get FBI email alerts for Us, The CCPs Organization Department makes all senior personnel appointments. As former Cisco CEO John Chambers once said, There are two types of companies: those who have been hacked, and those who don't yet know they have been hacked.. This button displays the currently selected search type. The nation faces a continuing threat, both traditional and asymmetric, from hostile foreign intelligence agencies. As members of the Senate know, over the summer, Congress enacted the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (FIRRMA), which overhauled the CFIUS review process for foreign investments in the United States. Foreign influence operationswhich may include covert actions by foreign governments to influence U.S. policy decisions, political sentiment or public discourseare not a new problem. The Espionage Act of 1917 is a United States federal law enacted on June 15, 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I. I will address three issues in my testimony before you this morning. Unusual interest in information outside the scope of assigned duties The FITF is uniquely positioned to combat this threat. In its recent stepped-up enforcement efforts against foreign influence in American politics, the DOJ has faced some high-profile setbacks when it has sought to use the broad reach of 18 U.S.C. We must build toward the future so that we are prepared to deal with the threats we will face at home and abroad and understand how those threats may be connected. Which of the following is an example of an anomaly? Nicholas Eftimiades is a lecturer at Penn State University, Homeland Security Program. First, I firmly believe that the U.S. is more likely to be able to effectively combat Chinese unconventional espionage if the U.S. holds out the prospect for cooperation in the U.S.-Chinese overall relationship. There have also been questions about how to limit hacking back so that a company engaged in hacking back is subject to appropriate U.S. government supervision and does not either intentionally or inadvertently escalate the situation. The recent attacks in Texas and California underscore the continued threat posed by domestic violent extremists and perpetrators of hate crimes. American policymakers should continue to distinguish between Chinas economic espionage and more traditional spying targeting U.S. government agencies, defense contractors, and other parts of the national security establishment. Beginning under President Obama and continuing under President Trump, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has launched programs to encourage the private sector to harden defenses. The text in bold (see Figure 4) reflects multiple, concerted attempts by China to secure specific U.S. critical technologies. Revelations of broad-ranging Russian efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election, which resulted in criminal charges against multiple Russian intelligence officers brought by special counsel Robert Mueller, focused attention on criminal laws designed to prohibit the activities of foreign agents in the United States. In nearly 25 percent of cases, individuals employed encryption for communications and/or hosted meetings in China to avoid detection by U.S. law enforcement. 13694 (2015) and E.O. China is pursuing a whole-of-society approach to its technological capabilities that includes purchasing innovative companies through overseas investments, requiring western companies to transfer cutting edge technologies to China as a condition of market access, providing vast state resources to finance domestic technological development, and financing training for top Chinese students and researchers overseas and paying a hefty premium to attract talent back to China. 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. Asia, South But government tools must also be an important part of the U.S. government response. An eye-witness report by two investigative journalists on the ground in Prato, Italy. High-level findings are as follows: One cannot simply look at a single or even several espionage cases and hope to understand if, and how, a nation state is conducting espionage. The U.S. government has steadily increased its response to the threat of Chinas unconventional espionage. Espionage Act said the need for the Act to apply everywhere was prompted by Irvin C Scarbeck, a State Department official who was charged with yielding to blackmail threats in Poland. Reporting threats to your Facility Security Officer or Supervisor. Economic Espionage and Cybersecurity Espionage comes in different forms. The problem is that these recent indictments and arrests are only two of hundreds, if not thousands of cases. China has also tried to hack think tanks to understand policy and think tank engagement with government officials. The final aspects of Chinese espionage activities are their use of specific clandestine collection techniques commonly known as espionage tradecraft. Chinese government agencies, SOEs, companies and individuals employ varying levels of sophistication of espionage tradecraft. Individual U.S. government agencies understand that increasing investment is the most important element to maintaining Americas technological edge. Twenty years ago, I testified before a U.S. congressional committee on Chinas espionage operations in the United States. Traditional espionage, often characterized by career foreign intelligence officers acting as diplomats or ordinary citizens, and asymmetric espionage, typically carried out by students,. Nonchalantly ask questions Foreign intelligence entity (FIE) is defined in DoD Directives 5240.06 as "any known or suspected foreign organization, person or group (public, private, or government) that conducts intelligence activities to acquire U.S. systems and programs. In addition, whether located at home or abroad, many cyber actors are obfuscating their identities and obscuring their activity by using combinations of leased and compromised infrastructure in domestic and foreign jurisdictions. Foreign intelligence Entities seldom use elicitation to extract information from people who have access to classified or sensitive information. Now, more than eight years since the climax of the Cold War, the threat of industrial and economic espionage has percolated once again to the forefront, and the tools of the intelligence collector . First, I will offer an assessment of aspects of the threat. Testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, By Weak passwords Journalists, military veterans, and judicial figures are being targeted by foreign espionage agencies at "unprecedented" levels, with the country's intelligence chief revealing a "hive of spies . 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. This report presents initial findings from analysis of 274 documented cases of Chinese worldwide espionage since the year 2000. It is a pleasure to be joined by two distinguished co-panelists who will also speak about the threat and I will focus on the aspects of the threat that I am most familiar with: how China uses unconventional, economic espionage as a component part of a comprehensive strategy to promote Chinas own high-tech industries. As the committee is well aware, the frequency and severity of malicious cyber activity on our nations private sector and government networks have increased dramatically in the past decade when measured by the amount of corporate data stolen or deleted, the volume of personally identifiable information compromised, or the remediation costs incurred by U.S. victims. by a rival foreign government. Traditional espionage encompasses a government's efforts to acquire clandestinely classified or otherwise protected information from a foreign government. First order effects of China's espionage include the impact on the U.S. economy through loss of intellectual property. The Trump administration has also begun to deploy targeted trade measures against Chinese beneficiaries of IP theft. The minimal application of tradecraft is expected, as these cases typically do not involve professional intelligence operatives (either case officers or agents). The resources and capabilities of such actors vary. A lock () or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. For most daily Internet uses, the hidden world of international cyber espionage may seem too distant to be of any real importance. https://www.law.com/newyorklawjournal/2022/12/07/setbacks-prosecuting-trump-allies-highlight-challenges-in-foreign-influence-cases/. But the FBI is doing its part by providing actionable intelligence to better enable the private sector to address abuse of their platforms by foreign actors. Foreign intelligence services continue to employ more creative and more sophisticated methods to steal innovative technology, critical research and development data, and intellectual property, in an effort to erode Americas economic leading edge. The U.S. also needs to start getting a handle on the vast quantity of Americans personal information that is all too readily available to make sure that it cannot be exploited by spies. But if China proves willing to make systemic changes, the administration should be willing to relax the trade remedies the U.S. has imposed, rather than locking the U.S. into an economic cold war with Beijing. 4 Impact of Cyber Espionage. In addition, there has been a debate in the community about the extent to which the apparent reduction in attacks simply represented Chinese efforts to restructure how China engages in cyber operations, rather than a genuine change in Chinese intentions. Outright theft of U.S. and western intellectual property (IP) is a key piece of Chinas strategy, but it is only a piece. Chinese military sources can tell us exactly what the PLA is learning. Copying files, unexplained absences, terminating employment, Counterintelligence Awareness & Reporting Cou, CI Awareness and Reporting Briefing Assessment, Counterintelligence Awareness and Reporting f, Level I Antiterrorism Awareness (JS-US007), J3OP-US261-HB Emergency Preparedness Response, TEMA 28: Bacterias de interes biotecnologic. There is also a national construct in place (however redundant) to ensure intelligence information objectives are satisfied by collecting foreign information and technology. The act of securing information of a military or political nature that a competing nation holds secret. Many foreign terrorist organizations use various digital communication platforms to reach individuals they believe may be susceptible and sympathetic to violent terrorist messages. Foreign influence operations have taken many forms and used many tactics over the years. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. The second type of Chinese espionage targeting U.S. colleges and universities has been espionage aimed at intimidating Chinese students and professors critical of Chinese policies, and to a lesser extent American students and academics. The United States generally distinguishes between Chinese economic espionage intended to provide Chinese companies with a commercial advantage and traditional espionage intended to obtain information about the U.S. government, U.S. military capabilities, and other sensitive government and government-related information. 9. Examples of PEI include, Unexplained affluence, concealing foreign travel, unusual work hours, avoiding polygraph One might expect poor tradecraft from nonprofessional intelligence entities such as individuals, companies, and SOEs. The second major U.S. government response has been increasingly aggressive Justice Department efforts to prosecute Chinese spies. With the broad distribution of social media, terrorists can spot, assess, recruit, and radicalize vulnerable persons of all ages in the U.S. either to travel to foreign lands or to conduct an attack on the homeland. An adversary conducts activities with precision that indicates prior knowledge. 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. Be observant However, the threat posed by terrorismboth international terrorism (IT) and domestic violent extremismhas evolved significantly since 9/11. Our second option allows you to build your bundle and strategically select the content that pertains to your needs. As a result, the FBI must remain vigilant. Legalweek New York explores Business and Regulatory Trends, Technology and Talent drivers impacting law firms. An official website of the United States government. Nations have been spying on the United States (and us on them) since the American Revolution. The most persistent threats to the nation and to U.S. interests abroad are homegrown violent extremists (HVEs), domestic violent extremists, and foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs). Illegal downloads. And getting access to this information would not even really be espionage as we typically think of it--the Chinese could simply set up a front company to buy the data commercially. Getting The Talent Balance Right: From Layoffs to Laterals to Mergers, How Can Firms Staff for Success? China has expanded its espionage efforts considerably over the last 20 years. Our adversaries are continuously trying to undermine our country, whether it is election season or not. Beijing has stated its intention to advance industry, technology, and military capabilities to become a world leader by 2025. The foreign intelligence officer begins pay the target for his efforts. An official website of the United States government. Economic Espionage Act of 1996. Sanctions need to be deployed carefully to avoid unintended consequences and, at least initially, should be used only against egregious violators. The person may. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the current threats to the United States homeland. Our adversariesterrorists, foreign intelligence services, and criminalstake advantage of modern technology to hide their communications; recruit followers; and plan, conduct, and encourage espionage, cyber attacks, or terrorism to disperse information on different methods to attack the U.S. homeland and to facilitate other illegal activities. Disgruntled employee attempting to gain access without need to know. Good morning Chairman Thompson, Ranking Member Rogers, and members of the committee. Us, Write Asia, Asia 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. 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. The Trump administration has expanded U.S. government efforts to impose costs on China over its economic espionage. The Director of National Intelligence report, Foreign Economic Espionage in Cyberspace (2018) identifies key industries and technologies that are frequent targets of foreign espionage. Espionage (spying) can involve the disclosure or theft of many types of information. In addition to these Executive Branch actions, companies and Congress have played an important role in Americas response. Foreign power activity or knowledge which is inconsistent with the expected norm that suggests that foreign powers have knowledge of U.S. National Security. The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation's detailed public threat assessments could be a model for Canada's spy service on explaining the elements of foreign interference, added Wesley. Counterintelligence is defined in Executive Order 12333, as amended, is "information gathered and activities conducted to protect against espionage, other intelligence activities, sabotage, or assassinations conducted by or on behalf of foreign governments or elements thereof, foreign organizations or foreign persons, or assassinations conducted by or on behalf of foreign governments or elements thereof, foreign organizations or forgiven persons, or international terrorist activities. We take all potential threats to public and private sector systems seriously and will continue to investigate and hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace. Only a tenth of Russian spy operations in Europe have been uncovered, according to the former MI6 boss Sir John Sawers, after it emerged that the two men accused of carrying out the Salisbury . But Congress should examine whether the existing statutory provisions are broad enough and whether resources for Section 337 investigations are adequate. The FBIs affidavit describes luring Xu to Belgium to illegally purchase General Electric commercial aviation technology. Over the last five years, I compiled and analyzed 274 cases of Chinese espionage that have occurred since the year 2000. Advocating violence for terrorist organization APT41 is a group that carries out Chinese state-sponsored espionage activity in addition to financially motivated activity. Foreign Intelligence Threats - Traditional Activity. Simply put, if a country is continually trying to collect information on specific components of the F-35 aircraft, it is because it lacks the required information for its planned purposes. 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. The term includes foreign intelligence and security services, international terrorists, In addition to implementing sanctions on appropriate Chinese targets under these existing Executive Orders, the Trump administration and Congress should examine whether the sanctions authorities are legally adequate as currently drafted or whether they should be broadened to cover the full range of Chinese unconventional espionage threats. The message is not tailored solely to those who overtly express signs of radicalization. 951 to pursue conduct outside the context of traditional espionage. A person who commits espionage is called an espionage agent or spy. 20 Espionage falls The United States charged the group with stealing airline engine technology from French and U.S. companies. The Economic Espionage Act (EEA)1996 Public Law 104-294, 110 Stat. As a result of the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act, which was enacted last year, the FBI anticipates its workload to increase dramatically. Illegal downloads. 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. 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. emailStay Connected FBI agents, analysts, and computer scientists are using technical capabilities and traditional investigative techniquessuch as sources, court- authorized electronic surveillance, physical surveillance, and forensicsto counter these threats. The United States has progressively expanded the scope of sanctions and entity-based export controls on Chinese persons (i.e., individuals and entities), primaril By Espionage and foreign interference pose a significant threat to our economic prosperity and national interests. Gen. Li Shangfu, with deep ties to Chinas military space enterprises, is widely expected to become Chinas next minister of defense. CI-21 proposes significant changes in the way the United States government approaches, and organizes itself to meet, the threat of foreign espionage and intelligence gathering. We're looking at $200 billion to. 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 . And this is a pervasive reality. 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. Death, Theft of Trade Secrets for a Foreign Govenment, Penalty for individual For guidance on "suspicious activities," refer to the Espionage Indicators Guide (see Appendix A to this Order). I left the Members with what I thought was an ominous warning: Do something about this now or youll be calling me back in 20 years screaming: My God, how did this happen? Well, they never called me back, but if recent FBI arrests are any indication, the problem has gotten worse a lot worse. Even putting aside general issues of individual privacy, from an espionage perspective this kind of data can be a gold-mine, especially when combined with other data that the Chinese have access to. Emily Kilcrease & Michael Frazer. I appreciate your continued support and look forward to answering any questions you might have. Just as our adversaries evolve, so, too, must the FBI. The winners will be those who break the old rules of the spy game and work out new ones. The group has been observed targeting healthcare, telecom, technology, and video game industries in 14 countries. Unexplained absences Is there an need to share? To combat the threat at home, the FBI established the Domestic Terrorism-Hate Crimes Fusion Cell in spring 2019. If the United States does not continue to make and expand R&D here in the U.S., China will eventually overtake our technological edge, regardless of how effective we are at preventing China from stealing, buying, or otherwise acquiring U.S. IP. These illicit activities pose a significant threat to national security and continue to be a priority and focus of the FBI. Most widely reported these days are attempts by adversarieshoping to reach a wide swath of Americans covertly from outside the United Statesto use false personas and fabricated stories on social media platforms to discredit U.S. individuals and institutions. Spies from 20 foreign intelligence agencies, including Nato allies such as France and Germany, are attempting to steal Britain's most sensitive secrets. This Act is the National Security Legislation Amendment (Espionage and Foreign Interference) Act 2018.