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Thursday 17 September 2009
US makes China one of its four top targets for spying
The US has listed China as one of the key targets for espionage for the next four years, a significant shift by the Obama administration and one that offers a rare insight into the motives of America’s spies.
US makes China one of its four top targets for spying
Greg Torode and Stephen Chen in Beijing 17 September 2009
The US has listed China as one of the key targets for espionage for the next four years, a significant shift by the Obama administration and one that offers a rare insight into the motives of America’s spies.
The National Intelligence Strategy produced by new intelligence director Dennis Blair groups China with Iran, North Korea and a resurgent Russia as nations with the ability to “challenge US interests in traditional and emerging ways”. The previous National Intelligence Strategy, produced under George W. Bush in 2005, made no mention of any nation and instead focused on the threat of terrorism and the need to integrate American spying efforts.
“China shares many interests with the United States, but its increasing natural-resource-focused diplomacy and military modernisation are among the factors making it a complex global challenge,” Blair’s report states.
He also places China at the centre of growing US concerns over threats in cyberspace, noting that it is “very aggressive in the cyber-world”.
The four nations listed are able to challenge the US through military, espionage and technological means, the document says.
Beijing responded quickly, with a Foreign Ministry official repeating a warning that Washington is stuck in a cold war mentality. “We urged the US side to abandon its ... bias and stop issuing remarks that mislead the American people and harm mutual trust between China and the United States,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said. She urged the US to correct “mistakes” in the report.
The National Intelligence Strategy is intended to help co-ordinate the work of the vast US intelligence community. While the 2005 document was dominated by the demands of Bush’s “war on terror”, the latest assessment opens with a new chapter, headed “Strategic Environment”, that begins by addressing the challenges posed by nations, before setting out the threats from terrorists and economic, environmental and energy challenges.
“The United States faces a complex and rapidly changing national security environment in which nation states, highly capable non-state actors and other transnational forces will continue to compete with and challenge US national interests,” Blair says. “Adversaries are likely to use asymmetric means and technology to counter US interests.”
Blair goes on to list the US’ “mission objectives”, starting with combatting “violent extremism”, then stopping the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
His report appears to reflect the Obama administration’s determination to not duck differences with China and the challenges facing Sino-US ties, even as it seeks to strengthen the relationship.
The report also reflects the complexity of that position - with China appearing, by turns, part of the problem and the solution.
The challenges posed by extremism and weapons proliferation hold the promise of closer co-operation between Washington and Beijing. Other US mission objectives - such as improving counter-intelligence (catching rival spies), enhancing cyber-security and strategic intelligence-gathering - make China a direct rival.
The renewed focus on nations as threats also mirrors the approach in a recent defence plan mapped out by Australia, a key US ally in the region. Its defence “white paper” shifted emphasis away from terrorist threats and Middle Eastern conflicts towards the prospects of a war between Asian countries over the next 30 years, and recommended Australia build a submarine force capable of supporting regional allies.
Both Western and Asian diplomats and retired intelligence officials reviewing the new US report described it as frank and realistic, but containing little that would surprise Beijing.
US military and intelligence officials have long spoken privately of the difficulty in obtaining good intelligence on China’s leadership and, most importantly, the motives behind its military build-up.
“We’ve improved our capabilities about finding out about what they’ve got and what they can do, whether it is weapons or computer attacks,” said one Pentagon official recently. “But we still lack real understanding of intentions, behind the rhetoric.
“It is unpopular to cast things in a cold war vein, but it is similar. With the Soviet Union, we never really had a window on the Politiburo ... and we always struggled with understanding Moscow’s intentions. We find ourselves in the same position with China now, but in a different era and facing different challenges.”
Among those challenges is the need to enhance US cyber-security.
A worker on the front line of the mainland’s cyber-defences said that while the US frequently exaggerated the threat posed by China, mainland efforts in cyberspace had indeed become more aggressive.
This had been prompted by a series of cyber-attacks against the mainland in the past decade that originated in the United States and Taiwan, said the leader of a Beijing-based government cyber-defence team, who could not give his name for security reasons. Some mainland hackers were simply using the same tools and tactics to fight back.
Nevertheless, official mainland hackers had rarely, if ever, attacked the US government and its military directly, the team leader said. “China’s attack on the US is like a student’s attack on his teacher. Unless there is absolute necessity - such as a real war - we would not directly assault US government and military servers.”
After all, he said, the mainland’s best “cyber-fighters” were trailing in terms of equipment and training. “China is three to five years behind,” he said. “We are still learning.”
2 comments:
US makes China one of its four top targets for spying
Greg Torode and Stephen Chen in Beijing
17 September 2009
The US has listed China as one of the key targets for espionage for the next four years, a significant shift by the Obama administration and one that offers a rare insight into the motives of America’s spies.
The National Intelligence Strategy produced by new intelligence director Dennis Blair groups China with Iran, North Korea and a resurgent Russia as nations with the ability to “challenge US interests in traditional and emerging ways”. The previous National Intelligence Strategy, produced under George W. Bush in 2005, made no mention of any nation and instead focused on the threat of terrorism and the need to integrate American spying efforts.
“China shares many interests with the United States, but its increasing natural-resource-focused diplomacy and military modernisation are among the factors making it a complex global challenge,” Blair’s report states.
He also places China at the centre of growing US concerns over threats in cyberspace, noting that it is “very aggressive in the cyber-world”.
The four nations listed are able to challenge the US through military, espionage and technological means, the document says.
Beijing responded quickly, with a Foreign Ministry official repeating a warning that Washington is stuck in a cold war mentality. “We urged the US side to abandon its ... bias and stop issuing remarks that mislead the American people and harm mutual trust between China and the United States,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said. She urged the US to correct “mistakes” in the report.
The National Intelligence Strategy is intended to help co-ordinate the work of the vast US intelligence community. While the 2005 document was dominated by the demands of Bush’s “war on terror”, the latest assessment opens with a new chapter, headed “Strategic Environment”, that begins by addressing the challenges posed by nations, before setting out the threats from terrorists and economic, environmental and energy challenges.
“The United States faces a complex and rapidly changing national security environment in which nation states, highly capable non-state actors and other transnational forces will continue to compete with and challenge US national interests,” Blair says. “Adversaries are likely to use asymmetric means and technology to counter US interests.”
Blair goes on to list the US’ “mission objectives”, starting with combatting “violent extremism”, then stopping the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
His report appears to reflect the Obama administration’s determination to not duck differences with China and the challenges facing Sino-US ties, even as it seeks to strengthen the relationship.
The report also reflects the complexity of that position - with China appearing, by turns, part of the problem and the solution.
The challenges posed by extremism and weapons proliferation hold the promise of closer co-operation between Washington and Beijing. Other US mission objectives - such as improving counter-intelligence (catching rival spies), enhancing cyber-security and strategic intelligence-gathering - make China a direct rival.
The renewed focus on nations as threats also mirrors the approach in a recent defence plan mapped out by Australia, a key US ally in the region. Its defence “white paper” shifted emphasis away from terrorist threats and Middle Eastern conflicts towards the prospects of a war between Asian countries over the next 30 years, and recommended Australia build a submarine force capable of supporting regional allies.
Both Western and Asian diplomats and retired intelligence officials reviewing the new US report described it as frank and realistic, but containing little that would surprise Beijing.
US military and intelligence officials have long spoken privately of the difficulty in obtaining good intelligence on China’s leadership and, most importantly, the motives behind its military build-up.
“We’ve improved our capabilities about finding out about what they’ve got and what they can do, whether it is weapons or computer attacks,” said one Pentagon official recently. “But we still lack real understanding of intentions, behind the rhetoric.
“It is unpopular to cast things in a cold war vein, but it is similar. With the Soviet Union, we never really had a window on the Politiburo ... and we always struggled with understanding Moscow’s intentions. We find ourselves in the same position with China now, but in a different era and facing different challenges.”
Among those challenges is the need to enhance US cyber-security.
A worker on the front line of the mainland’s cyber-defences said that while the US frequently exaggerated the threat posed by China, mainland efforts in cyberspace had indeed become more aggressive.
This had been prompted by a series of cyber-attacks against the mainland in the past decade that originated in the United States and Taiwan, said the leader of a Beijing-based government cyber-defence team, who could not give his name for security reasons. Some mainland hackers were simply using the same tools and tactics to fight back.
Nevertheless, official mainland hackers had rarely, if ever, attacked the US government and its military directly, the team leader said. “China’s attack on the US is like a student’s attack on his teacher. Unless there is absolute necessity - such as a real war - we would not directly assault US government and military servers.”
After all, he said, the mainland’s best “cyber-fighters” were trailing in terms of equipment and training. “China is three to five years behind,” he said. “We are still learning.”
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