The Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) reported proposition to create a mission center to keep an eye on the growing threat of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is necessary, but could be considered a lofty idea, former intelligence officers say.
Bloomberg recently reported that the CIA is considering the establishment of a new mission center to focus on the Chinese regime. While matters regarding the regime were once handled by the spy agency’s Mission Center for East Asia and Pacific Affairs, it is the desire of the CIA’s new director, William Burns, to elevate the focus on the United States’ number one strategic rival—the Chinese regime—the report said.
Geopolitical and Global Reach
The proposal for an independent “Mission Center for China” is in line with previous statements Burns made as a nominee before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in February. While describing threats to America’s national security, he admitted that “an adversarial, predatory Chinese leadership” poses the “biggest geopolitical test” to the United States.
For retired CIA operations officer Sam Faddis, this was plainly evident.
“If you haven’t been in a coma for the last 30 or 40 years, you should be aware that the Chinese Communist Party is the number one geopolitical strategic threat to the United States,” Faddis told The Epoch Times.
Clare Lopez, also a retired CIA operations officer, agreed, describing the CCP as “our foremost international strategic adversary.” She said the Chinese regime confronts the United States on a regular basis with a broad range of threats, including military and information operations.
Likewise, Burns’s previous statements expressed the need to “out-compete” the CCP due to “a growing number of areas in which [Chinese leader] Xi’s China is a formidable, authoritarian adversary—methodically strengthening its capabilities to steal intellectual property, repress its own people, bully its neighbors, expand its global reach, and build influence in American society.”
By J.M. Phelps
