![]() They are primarily after mid-range and dual-use technology that has both civilian and military applications-a computer that drives an auto production plant, for example. “The Chinese aren’t going for the cutting-edge stuff-laser killer-satellite technology and so forth. “There remains a major difference between the Chinese and the Soviets in terms of what they are targeting, however,” Hensley added. “Let’s say they are spending $50 million a year here and probably taking out more stuff than any other country. technology shocked him when he became FBI director in 2017. Since then it has increased steadily,” Hensley said. In an exclusive NBC News interview, he said the sheer scale of Chinese efforts to steal U.S. “The first time I became aware of any serious Chinese effort was in 1982. Hensley, who heads Customs enforcement on the West Coast, contrasts that with 20% for the Soviet Union and a similar percentage for Iranian agents illegally procuring military equipment. The Customs Service estimates that about 50% of almost 900 technology transfer investigations conducted annually on the West Coast now involve the Chinese. Both the FBI and the Coast Guard regard the merchant fleets of foreign powers as yet one more potential cover for intelligence activity. In 1987, a total of 190 Chinese ships arrived in California, compared to 30 Soviet vessels. There are about 5,000 Chinese students attending California universities, most of them in postgraduate studies subsidized by the Chinese government.įurther complicating the FBI’s counterintelligence problems in coping with the increased Chinese presence is the steady stream of Chinese merchant ships now calling at California ports. In the Los Angeles area alone, there were about 1,000 visiting Chinese delegations, of up to 200 people each, in the last year.īesides the vast Chinese commercial and political presence, which the FBI attempts to monitor, there is an enormous Chinese interest in academic research in California. The balloon was reportedly one of several deployed over military sites across the planet.Roughly 10,000 immigrants from the People’s Republic of China have arrived in California every year in recent years, and there is a constant flow of official visitors. The vessel crossed Montana, the location of many defense assets and missile silos, then traveled over states such as Kansas and Missouri before the object was shot down by the American military off the coast of the Carolinas. Reports of the possible spy cranes come shortly after at least one Chinese surveillance balloon recently traversed the continental United States. The defense spending bill passed by Congress at the end of last year directs the United States Maritime Administration and Department of Homeland Security to conduct an unclassified study to “assess whether there are cybersecurity or national security threats posed by foreign manufactured cranes at United States ports.” ZPMC claims to control 70% of the worldwide crane market, while one unnamed American official told The Wall Street Journal that some 80% of ship-to-shore cranes at ports in the United States are manufactured by the firm.Ĭhinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning dismissed the revelations from The Wall Street Journal as “complete paranoia” during a Monday press briefing in Beijing, according to a report from Newsweek, and said the concerns are “misleading to the American public.” FBI agents reportedly uncovered information-gathering technology aboard a ship delivering ZPMC cranes to the Port of Baltimore in 2021. Ports in Virginia, South Carolina, and Maryland which are sometimes used by nearby military bases have recently acquired new cranes from ZPMC. ![]() ![]() “It’s the perfect combination of legitimate business that can also masquerade as clandestine intelligence collection.”Įvanina added that the cranes could be remotely controlled by adversarial actors seeking to disrupt the flow of goods from American shipping facilities. “Cranes can be the new Huawei,” former National Counterintelligence and Security Center Director Bill Evanina told the outlet, comparing the infrastructure to products manufactured by the Shenzhen-based telecommunications company. Defense authorities have voiced concern that the Chinese-owned engineering company may be offering the Chinese Communist Party data regarding items shipped for the purpose of American military operations. American officials are concerned that Chinese technology at ports across the country could provide the communist nation insights about shipping traffic and national defense activities, according to a Sunday report from The Wall Street Journal.Ĭranes and large steel structures manufactured by Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries, also known as ZPMC, contain sensors that monitor the destination of shipping containers which move through American ports, the WSJ reported.
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