CIA videos aim to turn Chinese officials and 'steal secrets'
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is out with two Hollywood-style-produced videos aimed at recruiting Chinese dissidents to spy for the United States.
Both videos are approximately three minutes in length and are in Mandarin. The goal is for the CIA to recruit Chinese spies who are looking to help the United States.
"One of the primary roles of the CIA is to collect intelligence for the president and for our policymakers," CIA Director John Ratcliffe told Fox News exclusively. "One of the ways we do that is by recruiting assets that can help us steal secrets."
The videos are now live on CIA social media channels, including YouTube, Facebook, Telegram, Instagram and X. The first video is directed at senior Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders who U.S. intelligence officials believe may be willing to talk. Many of these leaders see their colleagues fired, jailed and, in some cases, they vanish altogether. The video closes by telling the viewer, "Grasp your fate in your hands."
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"This video explains to them how they can contact the CIA through our dark website and have an ability to improve their safety and well-being and that of their family," Ratcliffe said.
Ratcliffe said during his tenure as director of national intelligence during the first Trump administration that China was the United States’ most formidable adversary; economically, politically and militarily.
The second video is directed specifically at more junior officers within the CCP. He said the lower-level workers do not have much of an upward career trajectory, and their work only benefits CCP government elites.
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The second video ends with the phrase "Heaven helps those who help themselves. Your fate is in your control."
Ratcliffe said he's confident the videos will get past "The Great Firewall of China" and be seen by the right people in mainland China. The CIA previously released Mandarin-language instructions on how to connect with the agency through the dark web, which reached millions of people. Ratcliffe says the agency's line is open. Now, he wants people in China to come forward, while understanding their conversations will remain confidential.
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"We're moving forward and putting more distance between the United States and China early on in the Trump administration and that's going to continue," Ratcliffe said.