Edward Fishman. If Beijing sees no path to a cooperative economic relationship with Washington and instead believes that it will face mounting U.S. pressure regardless of any concessions Beijing may offer, Beijing will have little incentive to curb its efforts to steal U.S. technology. Simultaneously, over the last year, propaganda from al Qaeda leaders seeks to inspire individuals to conduct their own attacks in the U.S. and the West. Lastly, Chinas espionage activities continue unabated despite a large number of arrests, public exposure, and most recently, U.S. trade sanctions. Be observant What Joseph L. Rini Knows, Attorney Rachel Y. Marshall A Pillar of Strength for the Community, SpotDraft Raises $26 Million in Series A Funding for AI-Powered Legal Software, Access to the entire ALM network of websites, Unlimited access to the ALM suite of newsletters, Build custom alerts on any search topic of your choosing. The bottom line is that if there is information out there that China thinks is of value, the odds are that China has or will try to steal it. 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. 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. 13757 (2016) that authorize the Treasury Department to impose sanctions on entities that engage in various forms of cyber hacking and on companies that steal trade secrets or other high-value IP via cyber-enabled means, or which benefit from such stolen IP. As members of this Committee know, for many years the Department of Justice expended too little energy enforcing FARA, resulting in an explosion both here in Washington and across the country of unregistered agents working on behalf of foreign governments. The FBI is working closely with partners in the Intelligence Community and in the federal government, as well as with state and local partners, to establish a common operating picture. A 2018 National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) report on foreign economic espionage in cyberspace stated that in addition to China, Russia and Iran were engaging in significant cyber-enabled economic espionage activities. They would also generally restrict those companies ability to sell products based on stolen IP not only to the United States, but also to other countries around the world. It is absolutely essential to stop Chinese unconventional espionage. Introduction These illicit activities pose a significant threat to national security and continue to be a priority and focus of the FBI. The Director of National Intelligence report, Foreign Economic Espionage in Cyberspace (2018) identifies key industries and technologies that are frequent targets of foreign espionage. Email Email. International conventions, seminars, and exhibits We remain concerned that groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS) and al Qaeda have the intent to carry out large-scale attacks in the U.S. Anything that doesn't fit the pattern could be an indicator of espionage Getting The Talent Balance Right: From Layoffs to Laterals to Mergers, How Can Firms Staff for Success? The Obama administration issued two Executive Orders, E.O. In collaboration with the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, the FBI released a short film to educate anyone with a trade secret about how they can protect it. Removing markings. Foreign Intelligence Threats - Traditional Activity Traditional activity Forgoing intelligence entities operating out of: Embassies Consulates Universities Trade missions Insider Spies (Insider Threat) Foreign Intelligence Threats Non-Traditional Activity Foreign government-sponsored commercial enterprises International trafficking organizations The FITF is also working with international partners to exchange intelligence and strategies for combating what is a shared threat. This was a narrow agreement in that it did not preclude the theft of intellectual property for other purposes, such as for improving defense capabilities, or the theft of U.S. government information, but it did at least temporarily represent a step by China toward reducing its espionage against U.S. commercial targets. I do not want to overstate the risk: the vast majority of research collaboration benefits the U.S. And the U.S. benefits from the world-class students and researchers we are able to attract to the U.S., many of whomif they can get visas to stayhelp found and build cutting edge companies in the U.S. Disgruntled Recognizing innovation in the legal technology sector for working on precedent-setting, game-changing projects and initiatives. The Department of Justice has even indicted Chinese spies for stealing strategy information from a U.S. labor union that strongly opposed Chinese trade practices. A recent Hoover Institution-Asia Society report offered a number of recommendations with respect to these operations that I endorse, such as promoting transparency and disclosure around Confucius Institutes and increasing the due diligence universities apply to grants and gifts from Chinese sources. 20 Espionage falls But China is by far the most active practitioner of economic espionage today. The reason for this is because Snowden did not provide information he obtained to a foreign government. Nations have been spying on the United States (and us on them) since the American Revolution. These troubled cases raise caution flags for future DOJ criminal prosecutions of non-traditional foreign influence cases. This has taken several forms. Law.com Compass includes access to our exclusive industry reports, combining the unmatched expertise of our analyst team with ALMs deep bench of proprietary information to provide insights that cant be found anywhere else. The PJCIS noted 'ambiguity' in relation to this term and recommended the . The operational details revealed in individual cases implies this phenomenon is due to the following factors: no training program for handlers or recruited assets, differences in the various SOEs, and the variables of espionage targets to include military, space, dual use, or industrial technologies. We face threats from state-sponsored hackers, hackers for hire, organized cyber syndicates, and terrorists. The government must also provide a description of the information sought and the places or facilities that will be searched. Chairman Thompson, Ranking Member Rogers, and members of the committee, thank you again for this opportunity to discuss the FBIs efforts to combat the myriad of threats it faces. 13694 (2015) and E.O. APT41 has been active since as early as 2012. 2023 Diplomat Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. The term includes foreign intelligence and security services and international terrorist. But the underlying statute itself still arguably fails to cover a range of information collection and influence activities that China and other nations carry out in the United States. In the developing phase the foreign intelligence officer attempts to establish a close relationship with the target. Responding to Chinas unconventional espionage threat will require a whole-of-society approach, not just a whole-of-government approach. Practice Communications Security 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. Our Team Account subscription service is for legal teams of four or more attorneys. The goal of these foreign influence operations directed against the United States is to spread disinformation, sow discord, push foreign nations policy agendas, and ultimately undermine confidence in our democratic institutions and values. 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. Based on an actual case, The Company Man: Protecting Americas Secrets illustrates how one U.S. company was targeted by foreign spies and how that company worked with the FBI to bring the perpetrators to justice. In these cases no (23 cases) or minimal tradecraft (21 cases) was employed. And third, I will offer some recommendations on additional policy responses that the United States should consider going forward. Chinese economic espionage, on the other hand, is an unconventional threat and requires an unconventional response. 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. Sri Lankas default highlights the dangers of relying on international sovereign bonds with high interest rates to fund development. Do not prove for information - nonchalantly ask questions about them. The target is now hooked. Cleared contractor facility Site Map, Advertise| Illegal downloads. I the Handling phase the foreign intelligence officer will instruct the target on specific information needed. Your article was successfully shared with the contacts you provided. The message is not tailored solely to those who overtly express signs of radicalization. The Trump administration has also begun to deploy targeted trade measures against Chinese beneficiaries of IP theft. 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. Impact on the U.S. Economy. The first of these is espionage targeting cutting edge research and technologies being developed by U.S. universities, including technology that has U.S. military applications. I appreciate your continued support and look forward to answering any questions you might have. At a minimum, there is no indication that the CCP or Chinese government have taken any measures to impede the illegal activities (illegal in the United States) of their state corporations and citizens. Congress enacted the Espionage Act on June 15, 1917, two months after the U.S. entered World War I, to stifle dissent of U.S. involvement in the war. The FBIs affidavit describes luring Xu to Belgium to illegally purchase General Electric commercial aviation technology. When expanded it provides a list of search options that will switch the search inputs to match the current selection. We will continue working to identify individuals who seek to join the ranks of foreign fighters traveling in support of ISIS, those foreign fighters who may attempt to return to the United States, and HVEs who may aspire to attack the United States from within. The industry-leading media platform offering competitive intelligence to prepare for today and anticipate opportunities for future success. The second major U.S. government response has been increasingly aggressive Justice Department efforts to prosecute Chinese spies. The definition of 'foreign principal' (proposed section 90.2) includes a 'foreign government principal' and in the Bill as introduced, the definition of 'foreign government principal' (proposed section 90.3) included a 'foreign political organisation'. An adversary is able to anticipate DoD plans and activities. U.S. federal research and development (R&D) spending as a percentage of U.S. GDP, meanwhile, suffered through a multi-year decline before Congress finally began to reverse the trenda welcome developmentfor fiscal year 2018, which saw the largest federal research spending increase in a decade. The problem is that these recent indictments and arrests are only two of hundreds, if not thousands of cases. Economic Espionage Act of 1996. Second, I will assess the policy responses that the U.S. has pursued to date to respond to this threat. traditional espionage activity includes foreign governmentbuddy foster now. 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. Activities, behaviors, or circumstances that "may be indicative" of potential espionage activities by an individual who may have volunteered or Ben recruited by a foreign entity as a writing espionage agent. 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. Never answer questions you feel uncomfortable 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. No Thanks The widespread availability of malicious software (malware) that can create botnets allows individuals to leverage the combined bandwidth of thousands, if not millions, of compromised computers, servers, or network-ready devices to disrupt the day-to-day activities of governments, businesses, and individual Americans. Private companies (and individuals) are most likely to employ no or minimal tradecraft. 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. Keeping pace with these threats is a significant challenge for the FBI. In recent years a number of members of Congress have introduced legislation that would amend the CFAA to authorize hacking back by victim companies under certain circumstances. Just $5 a month. In approximately 60 cases I reviewed, Chinese companies or individuals were acting unilaterally for commercial benefit only. Prepare in advance An analysis ofoperational activities reveals a wide range of tradecraft practices (see Figure 5): As illustrated, the most frequently employed elements of tradecraft include using false names or documents to ship information or technology. Asia, South As I said earlier, I commend the work of the Department of Justice, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, USTR and other federal agencies to address Chinas unconventional espionage threat. These types of activities represent an assault against core American values in a bid to stifle legitimate and necessary debate about China. The FBI is engaged in a myriad of efforts to combat cyber threats, from improving threat identification and information sharing inside and outside of the government to developing and retaining new talent, to examining the way we operate to disrupt and defeat these threats. The Many Benefits of Reviewing and Updating Bylaws, Not So Fast: The Rights of Victims in Corporate Deferred Prosecutions, Defense Witness Immunity: Time for Supreme Court To Weigh In, Law.com Editors and Analysts Offer Top Trends to Watch for 2023. Over four years after the project was announced, updates remain scarce on China's first nuclear icebreaker. 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. Aimed at bolstering the government's arguments, the memo highlights in detail how the FBI identifies the activities of foreigners that would potentially be considered espionage. 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. Unexplained or undue affluence Al Qaeda maintains its desire for large-scale, spectacular attacks. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the current threats to the United States homeland. The person may. I also want to offer brief remarks on the second, partly overlapping type of unconventional Chinese espionage that merits a forceful U.S. response: espionage against U.S. colleges and universities. These elements of tradecraft included specially designed smartphone software for secure covert communications (U.S. vs. Kevin Mallory); third country meetings, or use of third parties (cutouts) in the United States for communicating information between the in-country handler and recruited asset, or the in-country handler and Chinese intelligence services. Be observant - note as much as possible and the person asking questions Concealing foreign travel Asia, Central Traditional espionage, often characterized by career foreign intelligence officers acting as diplomats or ordinary citizens, and asymmetric espionage, typically carried out by students,. This represents a new and different threat to Americas long-term leadership and must be addressed forcefully. Any company with a proprietary product, process, or idea can be a target. To date these authorities have been deployed against individuals and companies from Russia and Iran in response to cyberattacks, but have yet to be deployed against Chinese entities engaged in or benefiting from economic espionage or other cyberattacks against the U.S. However, other influence operations may include targeting U.S. officials and other U.S. persons through traditional intelligence tradecraft; criminal efforts to suppress voting and provide illegal campaign financing; concealing efforts to influence U.S. government activities, cyber attacks against voting infrastructure, along with computer intrusions targeting elected officials and others; and a whole slew of other kinds of influence, like both overtly and covertly manipulating news stories, spreading disinformation, leveraging economic resources, and escalating divisive issues. In addition to FTOs, domestic violent extremists collectively pose a steady threat of violence and economic harm to the United States. But this is not just an election-cycle threat. The Trump administration has accused Fijian Jinhua of benefiting from trade secrets that were stolen from Micron Technologies, a large U.S. semiconductor firm, and the Commerce action was a welcome, important development that signals to Chinese companies that stolen IP isnt free. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. 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. As Australias military ties with the U.S. deepen, the Top End becomes even more vital to Australian security. Cyber threats are not only increasing in size and scope, but are also becoming increasingly difficult and resource-intensive to investigate. The FBI is the lead agency for exposing, preventing, and investigating intelligence activities in the U.S. Because much of todays spying is accomplished by data theft from computer networks, espionage is quickly becoming cyber-based. 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.). Provide non-descript answers A number of countries have mounted aggressive economic espionage campaigns here that vacuum up advanced United States Unexplained absences With this subscription you will receive unlimited access to high quality, online, on-demand premium content from well-respected faculty in the legal industry. In addition, the same erratic performance by recruited agents illustrates nonstandardized agent training, protocols, and practices. The US government has taken a range of measures to counter Chinese espionage and protect American interests. 1101 riveredge rd, connellsville, pa 15425; traditional espionage activity includes foreign government. Take the battery out of cell phones Unauthorized access to information systems. We need to keep efforts that target Chinas espionage laser-focused on the small percentage of individuals and entities engaged in illicit behavior. The intelligence officer may begin by accessing the corporate web page to identify candidates to target via emails or social engineering. Beijing has stated its intention to advance industry, technology, and military capabilities to become a world leader by 2025. Almost two years ago, I established the Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF) to identify and counteract malign foreign influence operations targeting the United States. They seek to hold our critical infrastructure at risk, to harm our economy and to constrain our free speech. 2 Commencement. Espionage activities correlated to their sponsoring organization (the customer receiving the information or technology) showed four distinct clusters of Chinese organizations engaging in espionage. Victims of Chinas espionage efforts include major defense and aerospace companies, pharmaceutical firms, technology research companies, manufacturers, and universities. Proposals to allow hacking back are controversial because it is often difficult for a hacking victim to conclusively identify a hacker and there is concern that companies could hack back against an innocent party that was not actually involved in the original hacking. 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. The governing Chinese Communist Party (CCP) uses government, quasi-government, academic, and commercial entities as mechanisms to conduct all forms f espionage abroad. 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. 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. Unusual interest in information outside the scope of assigned duties If this is in fact the case then MSS performance is not likely to improve anytime soon. The statistics show Chinese private companies adopt an aggressive posture in conducting economic espionage activities, resulting in 60 cases prosecuted just in the United States. Such tactics make coordination with all of our partners, including international law enforcement partners, essential. Copyright 2023 ALM Global, LLC. A person who commits espionage is called an espionage agent or spy. Asia, Pacific Recent prosecutions, however, have relied on 951. China-Based Customers Conducting Espionage Activities. The foreign intelligence threat to the United States is expanding, becoming more complex and less predictable. An adversary uses technical countermeasures to block a previously undisclosed or classified U.S. intercept technology. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. 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 . The FBI indictment alleges Ji was tasked by his spymaster a senior MSS officer in the Jiangsu Province MSS office. Belgian authorities placed him in custody on arrival and put him on a plane to the United States (most likely with an FBI escort). That type of understanding takes evidence based off detailed analysis of a sufficient body of data. For most daily Internet uses, the hidden world of international cyber espionage may seem too distant to be of any real importance. He recently retired from a 34 year government career that included employment in the CIA, Department of State, and Defense Intelligence Agency. Attempting to gain access, without need-to-know China's espionage operations on the United States have been growing stronger for years. The French engaged in economic espionage throughout the 1980s. Chinas defense industry is working to develop a comparable engine. Espionage and counterespionage have been essential tools of statecraft for centuries, of course, and U.S. and Chinese intelligence agencies have been battling one another for decades. Disgruntled employee attempting to gain access without need to know. But China is investing billions of dollars in its own technological prowess and can draw on the expertise of millions of Chinese engineers and scientists who have studied at top universities globally. Browsing international terrorist websites, Everyone is required to report all FIE threats 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. As a result, the FBI must remain vigilant. The IT threat to the U.S. has expanded from sophisticated, externally directed FTO plots to include individual attacks carried out by HVEs who are inspired by designated terrorist organizations. Never answer questions you feel uncomfortable 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. without indicating you are uncomfortable, change any conversation that might be too proving with respect to your duties, private lift and coworkers Economic Espionage and Cybersecurity Espionage comes in different forms. In intelligence terminology, information objectives identify the specific information (or technology) that is tasked for collection. ), Next Generation National Security Fellows, The Shawn Brimley Next Generation National Security Leaders Fellowship, Joseph S. Nye, Jr. National Security Internship and Mentoring Program, 2022 CNAS National Security Conference: Security in the Balance, Sanctions by the Numbers: SDN, CMIC, and Entity List Designations on China, Since Russia Invaded Ukraine, Allies Levied More Than 11,000 Sanctions on Russia, Calling Check: Technology Competition with China. Congressional cybersecurity legislation enacted in 2014 has also played an important role in improving U.S. government efforts to harden U.S. defenses against Chinese and other attacks. The Espionage Act was amended in 1940 to increase the penalties it imposed, and again in 1970. WASHINGTON - Russian government hackers breached the Treasury and Commerce departments, along with other U.S. government agencies, as part of a global espionage campaign that stretches back months . Figure 4: Adapted from Office of the Director of National Intelligence. 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. However, the threat posed by terrorismboth international terrorism (IT) and domestic violent extremismhas evolved significantly since 9/11. Foreign influence operations have taken many forms and used many tactics over the years.
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