INTELBRIEF

March 5, 2024

IntelBrief: Declassified Intelligence as a Foreign Policy Tool in Great Power Competition

AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

Bottom Line Up Front:

  • Since July 2023, China’s top spy agency, the Ministry of State Security (MSS), has utilized WeChat to push public information campaigns warning against foreign spies and other topics related to national security, ranging from minerals and technology to anti-Chinese narratives.
  • The spy agency’s first official post on WeChat, citing the recently revised Counter-Espionage Law, explained the need to mobilize all parts of society for its counter-espionage work to create a “people’s defense line for national security against espionage.”
  • The MSS’s recent push into the public domain indicates how intelligence agencies adjust to take on a more public profile and how declassified intelligence is being used as a foreign policy and statecraft tool.
  • The very nature of intelligence gathering is surreptitious, naturally kept out of public discourse; however, the CIA director has frequently utilized declassified intelligence as a foreign policy tool, for example, highlighting that the CCP was considering supplying weapons to Russia last year for its war in Ukraine.

Since July, the Ministry of State Security (MSS), the notorious spy agency of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), has started to push public counter-espionage campaigns. Utilizing a Chinese social media platform, WeChat, the MSS has pushed public information campaigns warning against foreign spies and other topics deemed important to safeguarding national security, ranging from minerals and technology to anti-Chinese narratives. The apparent attempt by the MSS to enlist the public for intelligence and national security matters is illustrative of a new trend in strategic competition, something that the U.S. has also employed. The very nature of intelligence gathering and spycraft warrants secrecy and deception, naturally kept out of public discourse. During his tenure, however, CIA Director William Burns has utilized declassified intelligence as a foreign policy tool, for example, related to the war in Ukraine and the Russia-PRC relationship.

The MSS is a notoriously opaque, yet all-encompassing civilian spy agency. Its responsibility includes not only counterintelligence and foreign espionage activities but also the political security of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The MSS also has its own separate police force, the State Security Police, and conducts its own detentions and extrajudicial court proceedings of both foreign and PRC nationals. The MSS operates in the shadows as an agency that possesses significant power and infiltrates broad sections of society, with few constraints. For PRC nationals and foreigners in Mainland China, the euphemism of being “invited for a cup of tea” means being summoned or investigated by the MSS. Overseas, apart from traditional spy activities, the MSS has also been involved in transnational repression and harassment campaigns of political dissidents as well as religious and ethnic minorities that have fled mainland China. It was thus surprising to many China watchers when, in July 2023, the MSS launched a social media channel where it has been regularly posting education, propaganda, and counter-espionage campaigns for public consumption. The MSS has also launched a hotline, promising awards of up to $70,000 for tips leading to arrests. In April 2023, the PRC approved a revised anti-espionage law, which has significantly expanded the range of activities that can be deemed espionage under Chinese law.

The MSS’s first official post on WeChat, citing the recently revised Counter-Espionage Law, explained the need to mobilize all parts of society for its counter-espionage work to create a “people's defense line for national security against espionage.” Since then, the MSS has posted about a broad array of relevant topics to stop espionage activities and safeguard the PRC’s national security. Clearly aimed at a domestic, civilian audience, some posts have an educational or policy purpose, with some highlighting how different provinces are emphasizing the importance of national security. Other posts push pure CCP propaganda, and others detail specific espionage cases the MSS claims to have uncovered. Several posts seek to denigrate the United States, have detailed alleged spies and spy campaigns by U.S. authorities, and urged civilians to report suspected spies. A recent post warned against being ensnared by “exotic beauties.” In January 2024, the MSS even launched a comic series on its WeChat account titled "The Secret Special Investigation Division," which details real-life spy cases. Still, other posts take a broader and more educational approach, warning the public of sectors critical to the PRC’s national security—grain production data, mapping of rare earth minerals, and meteorological research—that are alleged targets of foreign espionage. The MSS social media postings have even offered reflections on current events and warned the public against “bad-mouthing” China’s economic situation. Given PRC President Xi Jinping’s strong emphasis on national security, new and amended laws related to national security and anti-espionage, and the reported desire of China’s spy chief, Chen Yixin, for the MSS to take on a more public profile, it is likely that the MSS public activities will only continue to intensify.

The MSS’s recent push into the public domain indicates how intelligence agencies are adjusting to take on a more public profile and how declassified intelligence is being used as a tool of foreign policy and statecraft. Western intelligence agencies, like the CIA and the U.K.’s MI6, have been active on social media for over a decade. During the early days of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the United States moved swiftly to declassify intelligence on Russia’s plans and disseminate it to the public. The CIA director has also frequently utilized declassified intelligence as a foreign policy tool, for example, highlighting that the CCP was considering supplying weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine. The US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns recently noted that the two countries are currently engaged in a competition of ideas. As the strategic competition between the U.S. and China intensifies, covert activities will undoubtedly continue to be the primary occupation of intelligence agencies, but they will likely continue to venture into the public space and utilize their spycraft for public purposes.

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