CIA Releases Spy Recruitment Videos Targeting China

The CIA has launched two Mandarin-language, fictionalized videos on social media platforms to encourage disillusioned Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials and government workers to provide intelligence to the United States. The videos depict both senior and junior CCP members dissatisfied with the system, emphasizing themes of personal agency and family safety, and provide secure contact instructions via the dark web. This campaign is part of a broader effort to expand human intelligence gathering on China, which CIA Director John Ratcliffe calls the U.S.'s most formidable strategic rival. The initiative builds on previous recruitment successes in Russia and other countries, despite China's strict internet controls. U.S. officials claim the videos are reaching the intended audience and reflect internal discontent, while critics have mocked the approach as naive or ineffective. Chinese authorities have dismissed such efforts as disinformation and attempts to sow discord within the CCP.