by Mark Bradley, Director, ISOO
The Wall Street Journal reported in its April 29, 2019, edition that American intelligence chiefs now believe that Chinese espionage is the most significant long-term threat facing the country. This threat encompasses traditional spy craft, which is aimed at stealing government secrets, and the theft of intellectual property and research from corporations and universities. China’s effort is being aided and abetted by oceans of stolen personal data, such as the heist in 2015 of more than 20 million files from the Office of Personnel Management. Counterintelligence experts believe that such grand scale thefts help Chinese intelligence officers pinpoint who may be the most vulnerable to recruitment.
The Information Security Oversight Office is the Executive Agent of the government’s Controlled Unclassified Information program. This program’s primary aim is to enhance the government’s protection of sensitive but unclassified information.