Ex-CIA Officer Alerts U.S. of China’s Superiority in Tracking Foreign Technology

According to former CIA officer William C. Hannas, the U.S. government’s monitoring of foreign technology is far behind China’s. During a congressional hearing, Hannas, now a Georgetown University analyst, criticized the intelligence community’s efforts to gather information about foreign gains in science and technology, stating that they are inadequate and ineffective. He emphasized that China’s open-source science and technology (S&T) intelligence network, consisting of over 100,000 professionals, is significantly more advanced than that of the United States.

Hannas mentioned that the disparity between the number of intelligence professionals dedicated to the science and technology priority is concerning. He expressed his disappointment in reports generated by the intelligence community, which he claims are mostly based on open-source information with minimal classified input added for justification purposes.

The concern over Chinese intellectual property theft has been growing, and FBI Director Christopher A. Wray recently gathered intelligence directors from other countries to address this issue. He expressed his findings that China often targets the technology they desire and uses it for military advantages. This concern has also been voiced by researchers at Google DeepMind, who fear that their work may be vulnerable to China’s exploitation for military purposes.

To address these challenges, Hannas suggested the creation of a National Science and Technology Analysis Center outside the intelligence community. This center would be responsible for predicting, analyzing, and countering foreign threats to the United States.

In acknowledging the failures of the U.S. intelligence community in monitoring foreign science and technology, Hannas also took some responsibility as part of the community. He called for greater accountability in pursuing science and technology intelligence.

The CIA and Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not provide any comments regarding Hannas’ remarks.