• Senior U.S. Intelligence Official Worries About TikTok, Chinese Tech

    By Katherine Gypson and Jeff Seldin

    General Paul Nakasone, who heads both the U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, told lawmakers there are many reasons to be wary of China’s rapid expansion in cyberspace, and Chinese-owned TikTok is but one example. “TikTok concerns me for a number of different reasons,” Nakasone. “One is that the data that they have. Secondly is the algorithm and the control. Who has the algorithm?”

  • Russian Cyberattacks on U.S. Likely to Become Bolder, More Brazen

    By Jeff Seldin

    Repeated failures by Russian cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns to inflict lasting damage during the Kremlin’s ongoing war against Ukraine is unlikely to dampen Moscow’s resolve and could instead spur a new wave of riskier efforts against a wider set of targets.

  • How Germany’s Far-Right Politicians Became the Kremlin’s Voice

    By Vanessa Geidel

    The AfD, Germany’s far-right populist party, has often been labelled as a party of “Putin-Versteher” (“Putin understanders”). Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the AfD has increasingly contributed to Russian disinformation campaigns.

  • Havana Syndrome Not Caused by Directed-Energy Weapons: U.S. Intelligence

    In 2016 in Havana, Cuba’s capital, a growing number of U.S. diplomats reported symptoms of unexplained ailment, and over the next five years, employees in many other U.S. embassies complained about identical symptoms, which included dizziness, nausea, headaches, ringing ears, and disorientation. A comprehensive investigation by several agencies of the U.S. intelligence community has now concluded that the symptoms of what came to be called the Havana Syndrome were not the result of an adversary nation using directed-energy or radiation weapons.

  • Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology

    By Robert Wihtol

    Forget the “Malacca dilemma,” that is, how China protects the narrow strait linking the Indian and Pacific oceans, which is the conduit for around 60% of China’s oil imports. These days, Chris Miller writes in his new book, China’s leaders are more concerned about a blockade “measured in bytes rather than barrels.”

  • China’s Militarization of Meteorological Balloons

    By Tilla Hoja, Albert Zhang, and Masaaki Yatsuzuka

    Beijing’s spy balloon is a clear example of an emerging technology developed for military and intelligence operations but that crucially evolved out of civilian and scientific programs. China’s balloon-technology programs contain sober lessons about Beijing’s incremental acquisition of foreign intellectual property and its technology partnerships with Western research institutions.

  • Spy Balloon Reveals China’s ‘Near Space’ Military Program

    By Natalie Liu

    Chinese spy balloon drifting across the United States this month was a demonstration of a little-noticed program which has been discussed in China’s state-controlled media for more than a decade in articles extolling its potential military applications.

  • Is China’s Huawei a Threat to U.S. National Security?

    By Noah Berman, Lindsay Maizland, and Andrew Chatzky

    The Chinese telecommunications company, a world leader in 5G technology and smartphones, faces accusations that the Chinese intelligence services can use – and have used — its 5G infrastructure for espionage. The U.S. and other Western countries have effectively banned Huawei from building their 5G networks, but it remains popular in low-income countries. The outcome of the struggle could shape the world’s tech landscape for years to come.

  • China-Owned Parent Company of TikTok Among Top Spenders on Internet Lobbying

    By Adam Xu

    ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of social media platform TikTok, has dramatically upped its U.S. lobbying effort since 2020 as U.S.-China relations continue to sour and is now the fourth-largest Internet company in spending on federal lobbying as of last year, according to newly released data.

  • Russia Continues to Spread Disinformation on Imaginary U.S. Biowarfare Facilities in Ukraine

    On January 30, Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the chief of Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical (NBC) Warfare at the Russian Ministry of Defense, claimed once again in a briefing that the United States developed biological weapons in facilities in Ukraine. Kirillov went further than he had previously, this time referencing the EcoHealth Alliance in his claims that the U.S. has done work “enhancing the pathogenic characteristics of COVID-19.” Kirillov appeared to have tried to appeal to Western outlets that have trafficked in conspiracy theories about both the coronavirus and the war in Ukraine.

  • What China’s Surveillance Balloon Says About U.S.-China Relations

    By David Sacks

    The question of what information the Chinese were trying to uncover using a balloon – when China’s many satellites could glean this same information – is intriguing. A far more important issue, however, is what this episode says about the ability, or more accurately inability, of Washington and Beijing to manage a future crisis. Worryingly, it appears that neither the United States nor China is prepared for a serious crisis.

  • Chinese Spy Balloon Over the U.S.: An Aerospace Expert Explains How the Balloons Work and What They Can See

    By Iain Boyd

    Balloons are much closer to the ground than any satellites, so they can see even more clearly. And balloons are moving relatively slowly, so they also have a degree of persistence. However, spying is not usually done these days with balloons because they are a relatively easy target and are not completely controllable.

  • How Dangerous Is TikTok?

    By Janosch Delcker

    The rapid ascent of the Chinese video-streaming app TikTok has alarmed lawmakers and privacy watchdogs around the world. What are they worried about? Why is TikTok in the crosshairs of so many authorities and monitoring bodies.

  • China 'Spy Balloon:' Why Doesn't the Pentagon Shoot It Down?

    By Zulfikar Abbany

    Espionage is all about secrets — keeping and revealing them. But here’s what we can say about the alleged spy balloon.

  • When Could a College or a University Hosting a Confucius Institute Receive DOD Funding?

    A new report proposes a set of criteria for the U.S. Department of Defense to consider in developing a waiver process that would potentially allow U.S. institutions of higher education to receive DOD funding while hosting a Confucius Institute.