Insights into a late draft of a report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission were leaked last week, and the information is quite concerning.
The report allegedly stated: "The United States faces a large and growing threat to its national security from Chinese intelligence collection operations." That should not be shocking for anyone in the defense industry, but the following should be: "Among the most serious threats are China's efforts at cyber and human infiltration of U.S. national security entities," the draft reportedly read.
That's right — covert agents are inside of organizations within our national security community. The report is also said to call out Chinese espionage efforts that resulted in the exfiltration of U.S. military weapons designs and blueprints of their systems. This could result in the mineralization of years of research and development efforts by the military and the U.S. defense industry.
While cyberthreats are deeply concerning, infiltration certainly rises to the top of most people's list of concerns. The public acknowledgement of spies inside our defense and intelligence industry has to raise the concerns of everyone in the defense and intelligence communities. This information certainly calls into question a number of recent articles reporting a decline in cyberattacks and espionage activities against the United States.
With the leaked information being so concerning, many are anxiously awaiting the full report scheduled for release on Nov. 16, 2016. For those interested in reading the final report, I would suggest checking the commission's website on or after Nov. 16.
One thing is certain, and that is the implications of the espionage activities uncovered will impact all those involved in the military, intelligence community, defense industry and beyond.
