As former Congressman and Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe goes before the Senate Intelligence Committee this week for possible confirmation as President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Central Intelligence Agency director, experts say the selection is a signal that the incoming Trump administration will take a far more aggressive approach to countering China’s espionage and cyberwarfare efforts against America.
Ratcliffe, who served as a U.S. congressman representing Texas’s 4th district from 2015 to 2020, served as President Trump’s director of national intelligence from May 2020 until January 2021. According to a Wall Street Journal report published Monday, Ratcliffe “is likely to push for more aggressive spying operations targeting Beijing” if he is confirmed as CIA director. The report went on to say that he “would push for aggressive spy missions against high-level officials in China and for covert operations intended to counter Beijing’s growing influence around the world” as well as “pursue such activity to deter recent Chinese cyberattacks.”
As demonstrated by the recent breaches at the U.S. Treasury Department and the hacking of telecommunication networks by Chinese state-sponsored hackers, the threat is real and growing.
Poster Comment:
This is a much needed defense. The US cannot defeat Yemen so we can forget aboutgoing to war against China.