Bloomberg: China becomes increasingly difficult target for US spies

According to anonymous sources, the situation for Washington is increasingly opaque as the need for obtaining relevant information and better understanding of China’s decision-making process grows. the increase in tensions between the two countries and in the midst of a series of problems, such as Taiwan and the development of advanced technologies. US spy agencies have long been unable to provide the kind of information about Beijing that politicians need, officials say.

A decade ago, the CIA was able to provide important information on the top of the Chinese political system, but now your possibilities are very limited, points to the medium.

For his part, former US National Security Adviser John Bolton told Bloomberg that he perceived that the country’s intelligence “lagged behind for decades”. “I never felt like I had enough information. I always needed to know more,” Bolton added.

Faced with the complicated situation, in October, the director of the US Central Intelligence Agency, William J. Burns, announced the creation of the China Mission Center to “face the global challenge posed by” the Asian giant. However, Bloomberg’s interlocutors consider that it is rather a question of a symbolic step than a real initiative, since more funds and staff have to be allocated to the new structure.

Official CIA representatives declined to comment.

Causes of American intelligence problems

According to US officials, there are several causes of spying problems in China and in some cases they date back several years. Even before Xi Jinping’s presidency, Beijing managed to cause significant damage to spy networks from Washington. At the same time, rebuilding a network is not an easy task and takes time, as it involves the hiring new staff and then systematically increasing these employees’ access to sensitive information, they explain.

Likewise, American intelligence was affected after Chinese President will transition from a collective leadership system to one controlled by him. In this way, the CIA had to go from focusing on inner circles of seven or nine top leaders to, in fact, just one.

Among other problems, CIA officers in China are currently facing difficulties by surveillance programs promoted by the State, which has covered entire cities with cameras and uses sophisticated facial recognition ‘software’ to track threats.

Furthermore, American intelligence faces a fairly obvious problem: a persistent shortage of native speakers Chinese, the sources conclude.