Article author:
Associated Press
Nomaan Merchant
Washington (AP) — At a recent private meeting with the leaders of the agency's Counterterrorism Center, CIA second officials said they were fighting. Al-Qaeda and other militant groups remain a priority, but government funding and resources will increasingly shift to focus on China.
The CIA drone attack that killed al-Qaeda leaders showed that the war on terror was unlikely to be considered later. But that didn't change the message that agency deputy director David Cohen delivered at the meeting a few weeks ago: the United States continues to chase terrorists, but its top priority is to better understand and counter Beijing. It is to be.
A year after the end of the war in Afghanistan, President Joe Biden and top national security executives are not about anti-terrorism, but about the politics of China and Russia. , Talk about economic and military threats. .. There is a quiet point within the intelligence agency, moving hundreds of officers to a Chinese-focused position, including those who were previously engaged in terrorism.
Last week, it became clear that the United States had to deal with both at the same time. A few days after Aiman Zawari was killed in Kabul, China conducted a major military exercise and threatened to cut off contact with the United States over Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan.
The United States has long been wary of China's growing political and economic ambitions. China has launched cyber-spy and corporate espionage campaigns in an attempt to influence foreign elections, detaining millions of Uighurs in camps. Some experts also believe that Beijing will forcefully occupy Taiwan's autonomous democratic islands in the coming years.
Intelligence officials say more insight into China is needed, including after the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic could not be clearly identified. Beijing has been accused of withholding information about the origin of the virus.
And the war in Ukraine emphasized the importance of Russia as a target. The United States used declassified information to unveil Russia's pre-invasion war plan for President Vladimir Putin and mobilized diplomatic support for Kyiv.
Proponents of the Biden administration's approach say the US's ability to track and kill Alzawari is evidence of its ability to target Afghan threats from abroad. Critics say the fact that Alzawari lived in Kabul under the clear protection of the Taliban suggests that there is a resurgence of radical groups that the United States is not equipped to counter. ..
The change in priority is supported by many former intelligence and lawmakers from both parties who say they are overdue. This includes people engaged in other missions against Afghanistan, al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups.
Former Army Ranger Jason Crow, who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, said he believed the United States had been over-focused on counterterrorism over the past few years.
"Much greater existential threats are Russia and China," said Crow, a Democrat of Colorado who is a member of the House Intelligence and Armed Services Commission. A terrorist group said, "It won't destroy America's way of life ... let China do it."
CIA spokesman Tammy Thorp said terrorism "is still a very real challenge."
"Even if we need to be aware of the crisis such as Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the strategic issues raised by the People's Republic of China, the CIA will continue to actively threaten terrorism. We will track and act with our partners to counter them, "Thorpe said.
Parliament puts China first on the CIA and other intelligence agencies, according to some people familiar with the issue spoken on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence issues. Prompted. Promoting resources to China required reductions elsewhere, including counterterrorism. No specific numbers were available due to the categorization of the intelligence budget.
In particular, lawmakers are asking for more information about China's development in advanced technology. Under President Xi Jinping, China has invested trillions of dollars in investing in quantum science, artificial intelligence, and other technologies, which could disrupt future war battles and economic structures.
As part of the shift, parliamentary commissions are seeking details on how a particular program contributes to its mission, with intelligence agencies funding China. I'm trying to better track how I'm spending. The problem said.
"I'm late, but I'm glad I was finally able to shift my focus to the area," said Utah Republican and House Intelligence Commissioner Kristen Stewart. .. "It means in people, resources, military assets, and diplomacy."
Last year, the CIA held two new "mission centers" to centralize and improve intelligence gathering on these issues. One announced that it will create China and the other will create emerging technologies). The CIA is also looking to recruit more Chinese speakers, reduce security clearance latency, and hire new people faster.
Within the institution, many executives are learning Chinese and moving to new roles focused on China, but all of these jobs require language training. Not so, people familiar with the matter said.
Officials have said that intelligence personnel have been trained to adapt to new challenges, and many have moved to counterterrorism roles more quickly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It states that it was done. Sources for building networks and targeting will also help counter Russia and China, a former officer said.
“What has become extraordinary is the analysis and targeting machines,” said Douglas Wise, a former CIA senior officer who was the Deputy Chief Operating Officer of the Counterterrorism Center.
The CIA's Counterterrorism Center, which was renamed the Counterterrorism Mission Center in 2015, has been working to keep Americans safe from terrorism since September 11. I am proud of many people who admire. CIA officers landed in Afghanistan on September 26, 2001, expelled the Taliban, and were part of an operation to find and kill al-Qaeda leaders, including Osama bin Laden.
And 13 years after a double agent tricked an officer chasing Alzawari into blasting and killing seven engineer personnel, the CIA murdered him on strike, but in the private sector. No human casualties have been reported.
The CIA was also involved in some of the darkest moments of the war on terror. It operated a secret "black site" prison to contain suspected terrorists, some of which were incorrect, and Senate investigations revealed that they used a method of cross-examination equivalent to torture. Elite Afghan special operations forces trained by the CIA have also been accused of killing civilians and violating international law.
Whether counterterrorism has moved intelligence agencies too far from traditional espionage, and part of the CIA's work targeting terrorists has been replaced by special forces under the army. There has been a long debate about whether to do it.
Marc Polymeropoulos is a retired CIA operations manager and former base director in Afghanistan. He said he supported a greater focus on China and Russia, but added that "there is no reason to reduce what we had to do."
"I remember that this idea of looking at the ball was felt by everyone on September 12th, because all the CT work we did was somehow wrong. Please keep it, "he said.
It takes both patience and awareness that it will eventually take years and it will take time for the culture of the institution to change in the direction of focusing on China and Russia. Wise said.
"For decades we have been counter-terrorism," Wise said. "We need to make a reasonable plan to make this adaptation. This will not be long enough for the enemy to take advantage of the glacier process."
