Inside the Ring

Spy threats

Chinese intelligence agents stepped up spying and technology collection activities against the United States last year, according to Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair.

The problem of Chinese spying topped the list of foreign spy services targeting the United States that was disclosed by the retired Navy admiral during his annual threat briefing before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, highlighting what other officials have said is among the most serious counterintelligence problems.

China’s main spy services are the Ministry of State Security and the military’s Second Department, known as 2PLA. Both are among the most aggressive spy services, according to intelligence officials, in seeking government secrets and economic and trade data to boost China’s military and civilian modernization.

Several Chinese intelligence-related cases were prosecuted by federal authorities in recent years, including cases that involved China’s theft of Navy and Air Force weapons technology and secrets.

“During the past year, Chinas intelligence services continue to expand and operate in and outside the United States,” Mr. Blair said in testimony made public Wednesday. “Its human collection services enhanced their collection and processing capabilities directed against the United States.”

Other spy threats include Moscow’s intelligence services, which he said continue to “strengthen its intelligence capabilities and directs them against U.S. interests worldwide.”

Russian spies are engaged in espionage, technology acquisition and “covert action efforts to alter events abroad without showing its hand,” he said.

Iran also is beefing up its focus on U.S. intelligence activities and is cooperating with other foreign spies to extend its reach, Mr. Blair said.

Cuban intelligence agents also are spying on U.S. operations and intentions around the world, and the Cuban spies are working with “a number of U.S. adversaries and competitors,” Mr. Blair said, without naming them.

North Korean agents are seeking U.S. technology, and Venezuelan spies are “working to counter U.S. influence in Latin America by supporting leftist governments and insurgent groups,” he said.

The spying activities of al Qaeda are “effective but uneven and Lebanon’s Hezbollah has shown “effective intelligence and counterintelligence capabilities and activities.”

Drug traffickers and international organized crime networks also are improving their intelligence gathering efforts and “pose a growing threat to the United States,” Mr. Blair said.

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