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Investigation: The battle over data—who controls it, who secures it, who can steal it, and how it can be used for economic and security objectives—is defining the global conflict between Washington and Beijing. [Thread] https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/21/china-stolen-us-data-exposed-cia-operatives-spy-networks/
In the early 2010s, CIA covers throughout the world were mysteriously being revealed. It appeared that the Chinese were able to do so using personal data stolen from the U.S. government and private firms, Zach Dorfman writes. [2/5]
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/21/china-stolen-us-data-exposed-cia-operatives-spy-networks/
![In the early 2010s, CIA covers throughout the world were mysteriously being revealed. It appeared that the Chinese were able to do so using personal data stolen from the U.S. government and private firms, Zach Dorfman writes. [2/5] https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/21/china-stolen-us-data-exposed-cia-operatives-spy-networks/](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EpxoTlVXEAYOXxn.jpg "In the early 2010s, CIA covers throughout the world were mysteriously being revealed. It appeared that the Chinese were able to do so using personal data stolen from the U.S. government and private firms, Zach Dorfman writes. [2/5] https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/21/china-stolen-us-data-exposed-cia-operatives-spy-networks/")
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/21/china-stolen-us-data-exposed-cia-operatives-spy-networks/
Just as China has sought to wield data as a sword and shield, U.S. spy agencies have tried to use their own big-data capabilities to try to pinpoint exactly what China knows about U.S. personnel and operations. [3/5] https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/21/china-stolen-us-data-exposed-cia-operatives-spy-networks/
China views data as a means to ensure regime stability in the face of threats to the CCP, creating the impetus for the country’s most aggressive counterintelligence campaign against the U.S. yet, Dorfman writes. [4/5]
| Fred Dufour/AFP via Getty Images
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/21/china-stolen-us-data-exposed-cia-operatives-spy-networks/
![China views data as a means to ensure regime stability in the face of threats to the CCP, creating the impetus for the country’s most aggressive counterintelligence campaign against the U.S. yet, Dorfman writes. [4/5] | Fred Dufour/AFP via Getty Images https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/21/china-stolen-us-data-exposed-cia-operatives-spy-networks/](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EpxqULtXUAM4luK.jpg "China views data as a means to ensure regime stability in the face of threats to the CCP, creating the impetus for the country’s most aggressive counterintelligence campaign against the U.S. yet, Dorfman writes. [4/5] | Fred Dufour/AFP via Getty Images https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/21/china-stolen-us-data-exposed-cia-operatives-spy-networks/")
| Fred Dufour/AFP via Getty Imageshttps://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/21/china-stolen-us-data-exposed-cia-operatives-spy-networks/
Our three-part series sourced by interviews with three dozen current and former U.S. intelligence and national security officials explains the immense depth of the big-data battle between the United States and China. [5/5] https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/21/china-stolen-us-data-exposed-cia-operatives-spy-networks/
Part two of our series on the U.S.-China data battle focuses on how the Obama administration and the U.S. intelligence community had to hastily reevaluate their initial approach to Chinese cyberespionage. [Thread] https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/22/china-us-data-intelligence-cybersecurity-xi-jinping/
When Xi Jinping assumed the Chinese presidency, U.S. operatives were unsure about how he would rule. Even after his authoritarian stances became clear, Washington tried for mutual cooperation through bilateral agreements. [2/5]
| Saul Loeb/Getty Images
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/22/china-us-data-intelligence-cybersecurity-xi-jinping/
![When Xi Jinping assumed the Chinese presidency, U.S. operatives were unsure about how he would rule. Even after his authoritarian stances became clear, Washington tried for mutual cooperation through bilateral agreements. [2/5] | Saul Loeb/Getty Images https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/22/china-us-data-intelligence-cybersecurity-xi-jinping/](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ep20NRQWwAYU5q9.jpg "When Xi Jinping assumed the Chinese presidency, U.S. operatives were unsure about how he would rule. Even after his authoritarian stances became clear, Washington tried for mutual cooperation through bilateral agreements. [2/5] | Saul Loeb/Getty Images https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/22/china-us-data-intelligence-cybersecurity-xi-jinping/")
| Saul Loeb/Getty Imageshttps://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/22/china-us-data-intelligence-cybersecurity-xi-jinping/
While the United States tried to ease tensions, Chinese intelligence officials were ransacking American data, including credit card and passport information, in a series of attacks in 2014. [3/5] https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/22/china-us-data-intelligence-cybersecurity-xi-jinping/
Meanwhile, U.S. officials struggled to gain information on the Chinese. The few fragments they had portrayed a country that had greatly advanced its data collection capabilities in order to steal the private data of millions of Americans. [4/5]
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/22/china-us-data-intelligence-cybersecurity-xi-jinping/
![Meanwhile, U.S. officials struggled to gain information on the Chinese. The few fragments they had portrayed a country that had greatly advanced its data collection capabilities in order to steal the private data of millions of Americans. [4/5] https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/22/china-us-data-intelligence-cybersecurity-xi-jinping/](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ep22D7_WMAgr8Ox.jpg "Meanwhile, U.S. officials struggled to gain information on the Chinese. The few fragments they had portrayed a country that had greatly advanced its data collection capabilities in order to steal the private data of millions of Americans. [4/5] https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/22/china-us-data-intelligence-cybersecurity-xi-jinping/")
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/22/china-us-data-intelligence-cybersecurity-xi-jinping/
By 2016, despite the fact that U.S. public discourse focused on Russia’s intelligence gathering, China’s massive intelligence operation had outstripped Russia’s, emboldening the Trump administration to zero in on the Asian country. [5/5] https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/22/china-us-data-intelligence-cybersecurity-xi-jinping/
In part three of our series on the U.S.-China data battle, @zachsdorfman looks into the extent at which China leverages private Chinese firms—and how it will shape Beijing and Washington’s relationship moving forward. [Thread] https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/23/china-tech-giants-process-stolen-data-spy-agencies/
When U.S. officials investigated what the Chinese knew about American citizens, it was not a pretty picture. By co-opting Chinese companies’ data-processing capabilities, Beijing’s spy agencies can quickly find nuggets of intelligence value. [2/5] https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/23/china-tech-giants-process-stolen-data-spy-agencies/
![When U.S. officials investigated what the Chinese knew about American citizens, it was not a pretty picture. By co-opting Chinese companies’ data-processing capabilities, Beijing’s spy agencies can quickly find nuggets of intelligence value. [2/5] https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/23/china-tech-giants-process-stolen-data-spy-agencies/](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ep8KyueWwAI9D_w.jpg "When U.S. officials investigated what the Chinese knew about American citizens, it was not a pretty picture. By co-opting Chinese companies’ data-processing capabilities, Beijing’s spy agencies can quickly find nuggets of intelligence value. [2/5] https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/23/china-tech-giants-process-stolen-data-spy-agencies/")
This access allows China to target people in foreign governments, private industries, and other sectors around the world to uncover valuable information, said William Evanina, the United States’ top counterintelligence official. [3/5] https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/23/china-tech-giants-process-stolen-data-spy-agencies/
Indeed, due to fears of internal instability and external threats to its rule, the CCP viewed data security as tantamount to regime security. And Chinese tech companies play a key role. [4/5]
Fred Dufour/Getty Images
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/23/china-tech-giants-process-stolen-data-spy-agencies/
![Indeed, due to fears of internal instability and external threats to its rule, the CCP viewed data security as tantamount to regime security. And Chinese tech companies play a key role. [4/5]Fred Dufour/Getty Images https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/23/china-tech-giants-process-stolen-data-spy-agencies/](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ep8MpcJXEAEjjzh.jpg "Indeed, due to fears of internal instability and external threats to its rule, the CCP viewed data security as tantamount to regime security. And Chinese tech companies play a key role. [4/5]Fred Dufour/Getty Images https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/23/china-tech-giants-process-stolen-data-spy-agencies/")
Fred Dufour/Getty Images
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/23/china-tech-giants-process-stolen-data-spy-agencies/
Concerns about the Chinese government’s relationships with its world-spanning private sector companies will influence the U.S.-Beijing relationship—and become a momentous foreign-policy challenge for the incoming Biden administration, Dorfman writes. [5/5] https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/23/china-tech-giants-process-stolen-data-spy-agencies/
