1. The Chinese Government Engages in Extensive Cyber and Economic Espionage Efforts against the United States
According to the NCSC, "foreign intelligence services—and threat actors working on their behalf—continue to" be the most persistent and pervasive cyber threat.[1] The NCSC concluded that China is among the most capable and active actors in this area, aggressively targeting and collecting sensitive economic and technological information to support its strategic development goals, including in the area of telecommunications.[2] Similarly, in the 2019 Worldwide Threat Assessment, the Director of National Intelligence warned that "China presents a persistent cyber espionage threat and a growing attack threat to our core military and critical infrastructure systems."[3] As Team Telecom recently highlighted, "China is the first country identified by name" in the 2019 Worldwide Threat Assessment given the threat it poses.[4]
The U.S. government is one of the leading targets of China's cyber espionage efforts.[5] A 2013 report by the Department of Defense concluded that China "is using its computer network exploitation . . . capability to support intelligence collection against the U.S. diplomatic, economic, and defense industrial base sectors that support U.S. national defense programs."[6] Following the arrest of a Chinese officer on economic espionage charges, DOJ's National Security Division warned of China's "'overall economic policy of developing China at American expense,' often through illegal means."[7]
- ↑ Nat'l Counterintelligence & Sec. Ctr., Foreign Economic Espionage in Cyberspace 5 (2018).
- ↑ Id. ("China has expansive efforts in place to acquire U.S. technology to include sensitive trade secrets and proprietary information.").
- ↑ Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community Statement for the Record to the S. Select Comm. on Intelligence, 116th Cong. 5 (Jan. 29, 2019) (statement of Daniel R. Coats, Dir. of Nat'l Intelligence).
- ↑ Executive Branch Recommendation re CTA, supra note 56, at 2 (citing Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community Statement for the Record to the S. Select Comm. on Intelligence, 116th Cong. 5 (Jan. 29, 2019) (statement of Daniel R. Coats, Dir. of Nat'l Intelligence)).
- ↑ Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community Statement for the Record to the S. Select Comm. on Intelligence 6 (Feb. 13, 2018) (statement of Daniel R. Coats, Dir. of Nat'l Intelligence) ("Most detected Chinese cyber operations against US private industry are focused on cleared defense contractors or IT and communications firms whose products and services support government and private sector networks worldwide.").
- ↑ U.S. Dep't of Def., Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 36 (2013).
- ↑ Sam Karson, Caught Between Superpowers: Alaska's Economic Relationship with China Amidst the New Cold War, 36 Alaska L. Rev. 47, 56 (2019) (quoting John Demers, Assistant Attorney Gen., Nat'l Sec. Div., Dep't of Justice). See also Press Release, Dep't of Justice, Chinese Intelligence Officer Charged with Economic Espionage Involving Theft of Trade Secrets from Leading U.S. Aviation Companies (Oct. 10, 2018), https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/chinese-intelligence-officer-charged-economic-espionage-involving-theft-trade-secrets-leading.
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