National security experts say the DC, which employed a large number of Chinese Communist Party members, came as CIA Director William Burns sought to reorient the agency toward dealing with threats from China. Expressing concerns about past involvement with the institution.

Recent reports highlight a historic shift underway in the U.S. intelligence community to rebuild networks of human espionage in China and outpace China's adaptation to a rapidly changing technological environment. . But Burns previously led a think tank that employed people and groups who professed to be members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), a fact experts say raises red flags about his credibility. It has said.

“Interconnectivity does raise some concerns, given the nature of the position and the mission there,” former Royal Canadian Mounted Police intelligence officer Scott McGregor told the DCNF. “Insider threats can emerge even in the most secure and trusted institutions.”

Before Mr. Biden selected Mr. Burns to lead the CIA, the former diplomat served as chairman of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace from March 2015 to 2021.

DCNF previously reported that during his tenure, he received up to $2 million in donations from Chinese businessmen who were members of two organizations associated with the China United Front's global influence operations. Carnegie also employed an undisclosed number of Chinese Communist Party members during Burns' presidency.

“The important question is whether anyone has woken up to the Chinese threat. So the question for Bill Burns is whether he has changed his view of China, and he says he has.”The Heritage Foundation Michael Pillsbury, a senior researcher on China strategy, once believed that China would become a friend of the United States., he told DCNF.

Mr. Burns has recently taken a tough stance on China.Mr. Burns in his speech Continue the Biden administration's pattern of calling China the most threatening competitor of the United States; Said “A hostile and predatory Chinese leadership poses our greatest geopolitical challenge,” Congress swore during his 2021 confirmation hearing.

But his oversight of a prominent think tank that hosted Chinese influence operatives and depended on policy proposals and research from senior Washington officials was in no position to usher in such monumental changes in the U.S. intelligence community. Experts say this is casting a shadow over Mr. Burns' efforts.

Former White House National Security Advisor Steve Yates said, “Establishment DC think tanks' 'engagement' with strategic competitors and adversaries deters and defeats those organizations. “This raises red flags regarding his suitability to lead a responsible operational agency.” Chairman of the America First Policy Institute's China Policy Initiative told DCNF.

“Long-term strategic challenge”

Under the Burns administration, the CIA scrambled to catch up on its espionage capabilities in China after a devastating breach of secret communications lines from 2010 to 2012 exposed U.S. assets in Beijing, including senior Chinese Communist Party officials. The Wall Street Journal reported. report. The nationalist and hostile government in Beijing decommissioned these assets, leaving a gaping hole in U.S. intelligence on China that remains unfilled more than a decade later.

Burns recently told the Journal that the CIA is reorganizing and providing funding to improve its response to China and “remains committed to the strategic long-term challenges posed by China.” .Burns established the China Mission Center and Technology Intelligence Center in 2021, bringing together staff from all agencies, Reuters said. report.

Biden's 2022 National Defense Strategy single out China is by far the greatest challenge to global stability and U.S. security. According to the NYT, the CIA's budget has doubled under the Biden administration to deal with the growing threat.

The CIA and China's main intelligence agency, the Ministry of State Security (MSS), are engaged in a tense battle to counter intelligence capabilities that increasingly rely on futuristic technology, The New York Times reported. report. However, MSS has the advantage of an AI-based system that can create files on targets around the world almost instantly, allowing the Chinese government to identify connections and vulnerabilities in potential targets.

The United States has also disclosed widespread MSS activity within the United States, some of which is tied to seemingly benign influential groups. In April, the Department of Justice Paid Two men are suspected of operating a secret police station hidden in the “overseas service center” of a New York cultural organization to “monitor and intimidate dissidents.” China's United Front Work Department, which coordinates global influence operations, operates other so-called service centers in American cities.

“The more establishment think tank leadership engages with CCP “friendly” organizations, the further they distance themselves from grassroots American interests, the less of a threat they pose to their Chinese counterparts, and the more they become resistant to CCP manipulation. It’s more open,” Yates said. He said.

“United Front”

Experts said Burns may be vulnerable to the Chinese Communist Party's appeal given his history with such organizations.

During Mr. Burns' tenure as president of Carnegie, the organization received up to $2 million in donations from the Chinese Communist Party and a Chinese businessman who was a member of two organizations associated with the Chinese Communist Party. China-US Exchange Foundation According to an earlier report by DCNF, a Hong Kong-based think tank (CUSEF).

Zhang Yicheng, head of China-based CITIC Consulting, will join Carnegie's advisory board and lead the 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th National Committees of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). I have served as a committee member. show. The CPPCC contributes to the governance of China and describes itself as a “united front organization under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, with various other political parties, mass organizations, and figures from various social circles participating in the management of politics.” It is described as an organization for the purpose of state,” according to Go to website.

Both Mr. CUSEF and Mr. Zhang have ties to the China United Front Work Department, which aims to sway public opinion in the United States in support of the China First policy, but the department has no ties to the government of the People's Republic of China. is also denied. according to Receives research from the Jamestown Foundation.

Carnegie's relationship with CUSEF continued until 2017, despite Burns testifying to Congress that he ended the relationship between Carnegie and CUSEF shortly after taking office in 2015.

DCNF previously revealed that Carnegie employed at least 20 undisclosed members of the Chinese Communist Party as policy experts during Burns' presidency. They worked at Carnegie's Washington, D.C., base and at the Sino-American Joint Research Center at Tsinghua University in Beijing, a partnership established by Burns' predecessor. according to Go to press release.

At least four members of the Chinese Communist Party took office during Mr. Burns's presidency. Yang Xiaoping, Expert About South Asia.

Carnegie also brought in experts and advisors with ties to the Chinese government and organizations aimed at taking on China's ambitions to replace the United States as the world's economic, military, and cultural power.For example, Carnegie added: Jia Qingguo, member In 2017, the Political Cooperation and Foreign Affairs Committee Liu Jinghua, retired colonel From the People's Liberation Army in 2018.

In his recent book, Spies and Lies, Chinese intelligence expert and author Alex Joske writes that Carnegie employs more than a dozen experts who have worked in front groups controlled by China's spy agencies. It says that there is.

Also, while Burns was president, Carnegie introduced Congressional staff to members of the MSS, the Communist Party of China's International Liaison Office, and the People's Liberation Army Intelligence Division during a visit to Beijing.

“Experts in Washington believe that if their leaders had these kinds of interactions with the Soviet Union during the First Cold War, they would be unfit to run the national security apparatus,” Yates told DCNF. “It would be difficult to deny that it would have been considered.”

#1 – @JudyChuCampaign @DailyCaller The investigation was extensively reported on Mr. Chu's honorary and executive positions.Her role within a Chinese organization tied to the Chinese Communist Party's intelligence front was denied by Chu, her travel companions, and traditional media without providing evidence to the contrary.https://t.co/ESJy0lT6w1

— Philip Lenchycki Cai Yue (@LenczyckiPhilip) December 23, 2023

Key figures in the Biden administration

All content produced by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent, nonpartisan news distribution service, is available free of charge to legitimate news publishers with large audiences. All republished articles must include our logo, reporter byline, and DCNF affiliation. If you have any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact us at licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.