CIA sets up new centre to focus on ‘increasingly adversarial’ Chinese govt

CIA Director William Burns said the Chinese Mission Center will strengthen the agency's work on the 'most important geopolitical threat' in 21st century.

File photo of the Central Intelligence Agency logo in Tampa, Florida | Photographer: Luke Sharrett | Bloomberg

New Delhi: The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has set up a new ‘China Mission Center’ in a bid to address the “global challenges” posed by the Chinese government in current times.

While announcing the formation of the centre Thursday, CIA Director William Burns said the centre will consolidate and unify the existing work that the intelligence agency is doing against “key rival” China.

“[The China mission center] will further strengthen our collective work on the most important geopolitical threat we face in the 21st century, an increasingly adversarial Chinese government,” said Burns, in a statement.

The CIA chief also highlighted that the threats are from the Chinese government, not its people.

He further noted that the CIA will continue to “focus sharply” on other important threats, including an “aggressive Russia, a provocative North Korea, and a hostile Iran”, as well as combatting terrorism.

Other announcements

The CIA Thursday unveiled several new adjustments and additions to its organisational structure.

Besides the China centre, the intelligence agency also announced the formation of a Transnational and Technology Mission Center, which will address “global issues critical to US competitiveness” — including new and emerging technologies, economic security, climate change and global health.

According to a Financial Times report, these two creations have brought the total number of existing CIA mission centres to 12. The implementation of this reorganisation will be overseen by Deputy Director David S. Cohen.

The CIA is also set to merge existing mission centres on Iran and North Korea, both set up during the previous Donald Trump administration, into existing groups covering each country’s respective region in the next 90 days, according to an official source, quoted by FT.

The agency also plans to significantly reduce the time it takes for applicants to join it and announced the launch of the CIA Technology Fellows programme to recruit promising experts for one to two years of public service.