July 7 (UPI) — FBI Director Christopher Wray said Tuesday that much of the U.S. government’s counterintelligence efforts focus on China.
He said that nearly half of the United States’ counterintelligence cases are related to China’s alleged theft of U.S. information. A new case is opened every 10 hours or so.
“The greatest long-term threat to our nation’s information and intellectual property and to our economic vitality is the counterintelligence and economic espionage threat from China,” Wray said.
“At this very moment, China is working to compromise American healthcare organizations, pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions conducting essential COVID-19 research.”
He made the comments at the Hudson Institute think tank in Washington, D.C.
Wray said most American adults have already had their personal information stolen by China, noting the 2014 hacking of the Office of Personnel Management, which compromised the data from 21 million records.
He said China’s Communist Party attempts to influence U.S. policy with “a highly sophisticated campaign involving bribery, blackmail and covert deals.”
