China's Non-Traditional Expansion and US Self-Sabotage

The current geopolitical climate is highly chaotic, with significant concerns about foreign nation-states, particularly China.

China's Non-Traditional Expansion and US Self-Sabotage

China's approach to international influence differs significantly from traditional imperialism. Historically, China has not invaded other countries, with exceptions like Tibet, a brief conflict with North Vietnam, and two border skirmishes with India. Instead, China's strategy involves purchasing and co-opting nations through economic means. A recent headline from The Onion humorously, yet accurately, stated, "China content to sit back and watch US destroy itself."

This sentiment reflects the current state where the US spends between $1 trillion and $1.5 trillion annually on its defense budget, exceeding the combined spending of the next eight largest countries. This massive expenditure is often ineffective and wasteful.

Wasteful US Defense Spending

Much of the US defense budget is reportedly wasted on:

• Maintaining 210 bases in 144 different countries.
• Developing inefficient and inappropriate weapon systems, such as the F-35. The F-35 was not widely desired because a "one-size-fits-all" aircraft cannot effectively meet diverse operational needs. This contrasts sharply with the A-10, a highly effective close-air support aircraft that was phased out despite its capabilities (e.g., flying low enough to practically touch while firing missiles to destroy tanks).

While the US allocates vast sums to defense, China uses its resources to acquire global assets like ports, airports, factories, and desalination plants. This economic flexing allows China to:

• Buy influence and foster alliances, potentially isolating the United States.
• Free up cash to invest in new technologies that could be used against the US.

China's End Goal: Containment and Collapse

China's ultimate objective appears to mirror the US goal toward the Soviet Union during the Cold War: containment and isolation, hoping for the eventual self-collapse of the United States. This strategy is bolstered by the US's escalating national debt, which recently crossed $40 trillion. Defense is the number one government expenditure, followed closely by interest on the national debt.

The US Treasury's Chief Information Officer, Sam Kulkas, highlighted the immense challenge of managing the US's financial data, describing it as a "Frankenstein's monster" of disparate, unstandardized databases.

Chinese Espionage and Infiltration

Simultaneously, China is actively engaged in espionage against the US and its allies. Recent incidents include:

• The discovery of a deep-cover Chinese intelligence cell in New York City, which threatened Chinese dissidents and their relatives in China to cease anti-government activism.
• Recruitment efforts targeting Capitol Hill staffers, FBI agents, and attempts to infiltrate the CIA.
• Placement of intelligence officers in hard science PhD programs across the United States.

This pervasive espionage poses a serious problem for US national security.

The Threat of Israeli Intelligence Operations

While China represents a long-term strategic threat, the most immediate threat in terms of government infiltration is considered to be Israel. Israeli intelligence operations are covert and have a history of targeting US defense contractors.

• As far back as 35 years ago, the FBI identified 187 undercover Israeli intelligence operatives infiltrating American defense contractors.
• Just three weeks prior to this discussion, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) director issued an all-hands email warning officers that Israel had significantly ramped up its intelligence operations against the US and was attempting to infiltrate the DIA.
• Despite these concerns, the new National Defense Authorization Act co-locates Israeli intelligence personnel within the Pentagon and the CIA.

The Asset Acquisition Cycle: How Spies Are Recruited

The process of recruiting foreign assets, known as the asset acquisition cycle, involves four stages:

1. Spot: Identifying a potential target (e.g., a DIA employee).
2. Assess: Evaluating the target's access to desired information.
3. Develop: If access is confirmed, identifying a vulnerability. Vulnerabilities can range from financial debt (e.g., gambling) to personal attachments (e.g., a spouse with a serious illness, or children needing expensive education). The handler might offer to pay for a child's top-tier schooling, for instance.
4. Recruit: Once the individual is tested and willing to provide information, usually for money, they are officially recruited.

Most foreign assets within the US government are not foreign nationals who started their careers with the intent to spy. It's highly unlikely that foreign intelligence agencies would "grow" an asset from scratch within the US government. Instead, they typically recruit individuals already in positions of power or access.

The Cambridge Five and Kim Philby

A notable historical example of long-term infiltration is the Cambridge Five in the UK, particularly Kim Philby. Philby and his cohorts were recruited by the Soviets at university due to their overt communist sympathies in the 1930s. Philby, a British national, rose to become the chief of counterintelligence in MI6.

His best friend, James Jesus Angleton, was the chief of counterintelligence at the CIA. Philby was a deep-cover KGB agent throughout their friendship. When the CIA eventually developed a source within the KGB who exposed Philby, it profoundly affected Angleton, leading him to a destructive "mole hunt" within the CIA that ruined many careers.

Philby was tipped off about his exposure while at a Christmas party at the British ambassador's home in Lebanon. He escaped through a window, made his way to the Soviet Embassy, was smuggled to Moscow in a coffin, and later appeared at a press conference declaring his lifelong communist allegiance. He spent the rest of his days in Moscow, lecturing at the KGB training center.

A Philby Family Postscript

During the first Gulf War in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, a US official met a Saudi national named Abdullah Philby. It was revealed that Abdullah was Kim Philby's half-brother. Kim Philby's father, a physician, became the personal physician to King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud, the founder of Saudi Arabia. He divorced his British wife, married a Saudi woman, and had a second family, all Saudi citizens, named Philby.