The Washington Times

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Beijing’s systematic spying efforts inside the United States are rapidly increasing, a new congressional report claims.

… Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner tells Threat Status in an exclusive interview that artificial intelligence deepfakes by foreign adversaries could be launched in the critical days after the U.S. presidential election.

… Russia’s State Duma ratified a North Korean-Russian strategic partnership this week and Russian President Vladimir Putin cagily acknowledged that North Korean troops are inside his country.

… Ukrainian intelligence, meanwhile, says North Korean troops have already been spotted on the battlefields of the Ukraine-Russia war.

… The Times of London reports that Israel has been forced to delay its military retaliation against Iran because of the U.S. intelligence leak on details of the planned strike.

… The U.S. has slapped sanctions on a leading figure in Sudan’s military at the center of weapons deals fueling the Northeast African nation’s civil war.

… Arizona State University has been tapped to lead a national consortium supporting the Pentagon’s Irregular Warfare Center.

… And here’s a look inside the lawsuit that China’s top drone maker — Shenzhen DJI Innovation Technology Co. — filed this month against the Pentagon protesting its designation as a collaborator with the Chinese military.

China's spy activities expanding inside the U.S.

Beijing’s systematic spying efforts inside the United States are rapidly increasing, according to a new report by a House subcommittee, which says that federal authorities have logged more than 55 cases of China-related espionage in 20 states since January 2021.

The report by the House Homeland Security subcommittee on counterterrorism, law enforcement and intelligence cites cases involving the transmission of sensitive military information to Beijing, theft of trade secrets, harassment and repression of Chinese dissidents, and obstruction of justice.

“Cases of Chinese espionage throughout the U.S. have expanded rapidly with Chinese nationals and non-Chinese individuals acting on behalf of the People’s Republic of China allegedly committing a variety of forms of espionage including, but not limited to, government, military and economic espionage,” according to the report.

Subcommittee statistics claim that between 2000 and 2023, 224 incidents of Chinese spying were detected against the United States. The report asserts that estimated 80% of economic espionage prosecutions are linked to actions benefiting the Chinese system, and about 60% of all trade secrets theft cases were involved Chinese agents.

Senate intel chair: AI deepfakes could disrupt critical days after election

Mr. Warner made the assertion in an exclusive video interview with Threat Status this week, during which he said that “China and Iran in particular” can use artificial intelligence to enhance the mass dissemination of “deepfake” videos.

“The two, three, four days after the election is where we could really see bad things happen,” said the Virginia Democrat who has chaired the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence since 2021.

“Think about the potential of a deepfake of someone who appears to be an election official [on] Election Day or the day after election appearing to destroy ballots,” Mr. Warner said. “Artificial intelligence can just simply allow these activities to be done at a speed and scale that’s unprecedented.”

Biden administration weighing ‘information czar’ for national security

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan says the idea of creating a new executive branch “information czar” to combat foreign disinformation operations about elections and other issues is a topic of debate throughout intelligence and defense agencies.

When asked Thursday about the prospect of creating such a post, Mr. Sullivan told an audience at the National Defense University that most decisions on how to address foreign disinformation operations currently occur in the National Security Council. “But this may be an area where actually a lead agency model is a more effective way of setting up for long-term success that insulates this from the … politics on both sides,” he said.

It’s notable that President Biden’s Department of Homeland Security established a “Disinformation Governance Board” in 2022. The board was then disbanded in less than a year amid widespread criticism that it infringed upon First Amendment protections for free speech. Nina Jankowicz, who was appointed to run the disinformation board, registered as a foreign agent later that year to work for a British-based nonprofit focused on disinformation.

Iran pushes for greater ties with Russia at BRICS Summit

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says he and Mr. Putin will soon sign a strategic partnership agreement. Mr. Pezeshkian made the remarks this week at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, where Iranian officials were seen to be pushing for tighter relations with their Russian counterparts.

Tehran likely seeks greater international support from countries like Russia and China because Israel’s ground and air offensives in the Gaza Strip and in Lebanon have disrupted parts of the Iranian military’s proxy network, according to the Institute for the Study of War.

“This disruption is particularly notable, given that Hezbollah’s capabilities — which now appear degraded by Israeli action at a minimum — have long served as Iran’s principal deterrence against Israeli attack,” the ISW said in one of several analytical assessments posted on the Washington-based think tank’s website this week. Another of the assessments asserted that “Hamas is seeking Russian support in pressuring the Palestinian Authority (PA) to negotiate over a national unity government with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.”

Opinion: The Spanish prime minister's 'hypocrisy'

As Israel struggles to free itself from a ring of terrorism by Islamist militants, Spain has taken the lead in disparaging the Jewish homeland, accusing it of “indiscriminate killing,” writes Gerard Leval, who argues the accusation “has echoes in historical antisemitism.”

“Just months after a barbaric Palestinian attack on Israel,” writes Mr. Leval, “Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has accused Israel of war crimes and has chosen to have Spain recognize a nonexistent Palestinian state.”

Spain’s recent actions, he adds, are hypocritical: “Mr. Sanchez must have forgotten that Catalonia, a large swath of northeastern Spain, has been seeking independence for generations. Despite the unique historic, linguistic and cultural attributes of Catalonians, Spain has been unalterably opposed to allowing Catalonia to separate itself from the nation.”

Events on our radar

• Oct. 25 — The Road Ahead: Israelis and Palestinians One Year After Oct. 7, Center for a New American Security

• Oct. 28 to Nov. 1 — IEEE Military Communications Conference, IEEE

• Oct. 29 — Left Out in the Cold? Reviving U.S.-Canada Relations, Hudson Institute

• Oct. 30 — Assessing Global Arms Trade Transparency, Stimson Center

• Nov. 8-10 — IISS Prague Defense Summit 2024, International Institute for Strategic Studies

• Nov. 22-24 — Halifax International Security Forum

• Dec. 7 — 2024 Reagan National Defense Forum, Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute

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