The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is trying to recruit informants in China, North Korea, and Iran by sharing information on social media.
On Wednesday, the agency posted videos with instructions in Mandarin, Farsi, and Korean across platforms like X, YouTube, Instagram, Telegram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and the Dark Web.
“CIA is providing instructions in multiple languages on how to securely contact us,” the agency said, as cited by the South China Morning Post.
The videos, especially the one in Mandarin, offered written advice, reassuring potential recruits that “your safety and well-being remain our top priority.” It also encouraged them to use a "computer or network that can’t be linked to your identity" when contacting the agency.
Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington, responded by warning that “any attempts to drive a wedge between the Chinese people and the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] or to weaken their close bond, will inevitably fail.”
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This new effort comes after a similar CIA campaign in January, where the agency tried to recruit Russian spies. That campaign featured a dramatic video aimed at Russians who were upset with corruption and military issues in their country.
At the time, CIA Director William Burns called the campaign a “rare opportunity” to connect with Russians who were frustrated with their government.
The Kremlin dismissed the effort, pointing out that X has been banned in Russia since 2022, the same year Russia invaded Ukraine.
On Wednesday, a CIA spokesperson told Reuters that their campaign in Russia had been successful and that they now wanted to make sure people in other authoritarian countries knew that “we’re open for business.”
With tensions between the US and China increasing, gathering intelligence from China has become more difficult for the CIA. The agency is finding it harder to keep up-to-date on China, which it sees as a major threat to US military and economic power.
This latest recruitment push comes after the CIA’s spy network in China was severely weakened almost a decade ago, when at least 20 informants were exposed. However, CIA Deputy Director David Cohen suggested that the current economic slowdown in China and President Xi Jinping’s tightening grip on power could provide a good opportunity to find new informants.
“There are many individuals with access to information who are disillusioned with the Xi regime,” Cohen reportedly said, as quoted by Bloomberg.
