Thinking Citizen Blog — The #1 Threat to US Security — Russia, China, Islamist Terrorism?
By: John Muresianu
Tags: USA, Thinking Citizen Blog, China, Russia, Foreign Policy

с Monday is Foreign Policy Day

Today’ s Topic — The #1 Threat to US Security — Russia, China, Islamist terrorism?

For the Trump administration, the answer is China. For President-elect Biden it is Russia. For others, Islamist terrorism — particularly given Iran’s explicit intentions and Pakistan’s political instability. Or is the question the wrong one? Is it a distraction from some more important question? Which would be what? Today, a summary of an article by John Ratcliffe, the Director of National Intelligence making an argument for China. Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.

ECONOMIC ESPIONAGE: “Rob, replicate, replace”

1. “China robs U.S. companies of their intellectual property, replicates the technology, and then replaces the U.S. firms in the global marketplace.”

2. “Take Sinovel. In 2018 a federal jury found the Chinese wind-turbine manufacturer guilty of stealing trade secrets from American Superconductor.”

3. “Penalties were imposed but the damage was done. The theft resulted in the U.S. company losing more than $1 billion in shareholder value and cutting 700 jobs.”

NB: “Today Sinovel sells wind turbines world-wide as if it built a legitimate business through ingenuity and hard work rather than theft.”

HUAWEI AND THE 5G THREAT

1. “China is also developing world-class capabilities in emerging technologies. Its intelligence services use their access to tech firms such as Huawei to enable malicious activities, including the introduction of vulnerabilities into software and equipment.”

2. “Huawei and other Chinese firms deny this, but China’s efforts to dominate 5G telecommunications will only increase Beijing’s opportunities to collect intelligence, disrupt communications and threaten user privacy world-wide.”

3, “I have personally told U.S. allies that using such Chinese-owned technology ill severely limit America’s ability to share vital intelligence with them.”

TIME FOR A PARADIGM SHIFT IN THINKING — getting beyond the Cold War and 9/11

1. “ For the talented intelligence analysts and operators who came up during the Cold War, the Soviet Union and Russia have always been the focus.”

2. “For others who rose through the ranks at the turn of this century, counterterrorism has been top of mind.”

3. “But today we must look with clear eyes at the facts in front of us, which make plain that China should be America’s primary national security focus going forward.”

NB: Do you have a strong view on which threat should be prioritized? Best article you have ever read taking that view? Please share.

Opinion | China Is National Security Threat №1

Here is a link to the last three years of posts organized by theme:

PDF with headlines — Google Drive

YOUR TURN

Please share the coolest or most important thing you learned in the last week, month, or year related to foreign policy. Or, even better, the coolest or most important thing you learned in our life related to foreign policy.

This is your chance to make someone else’s day. And to consolidate in your memory something important you might otherwise forget. Or to think more deeply than otherwise about something dear to your heart. Continuity is the key to depth of thought. The prospect of imminent publication, like hanging and final exams, concentrates the mind. A useful life long habit.