Chinese spies repeatedly infiltrated U.S. national security agencies, including official email accounts, and stole U.S. secrets on Pentagon war plans for a future conflict with China, according to a forthcoming congressional commission report, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
”The United States faces a large and growing threat to its national security from Chinese intelligence collection operations,” states the late draft report of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
”Among the most serious threats are China`s efforts at cyber and human infiltration of U.S. national security entities.”
Chinese intelligence activities have ”risen significantly” in the past 15 years and are conducted through several spy services, including the Ministry of State Security (MSS), the People`s Liberation Army (PLA), and Communist Party military organizations such as the PLA General Political Department and the Party`s United Front Work Department.
A copy of the draft annual report for 2016 was obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. The final report will be released Nov. 16.
The report identified repeated infiltrations by Chinese spies of U.S. national security entities, including the FBI and the U.S. Pacific Command.
Defense officials said one of the more damaging spy cases involved retired Lt. Col. Benjamin Pierce Bishop, a defense contractor at the U.S. Pacific Command, who pleaded guilty in March 2014 to supplying classified information to a Chinese woman he dated.
The compromised information included secret U.S. war plans, nuclear weapons and deployment information, secrets on the MQ-9 Reaper drone, and a classified report titled ”The Department of Defense China Strategy.”
Other targets of cyber attacks include U.S. diplomatic, economic, and defense industrial sectors involved in supporting American national defense programs. The data could be used to support Chinese military modernization, as well as provide Chinese Communist leaders with insights into U.S. leadership perspectives on key China issues.
China`s government also uses unofficial spies to gather information.
