CIA announces new mission that pivots to China, focus on technology

“address the global challenge posed by the People’s Republic of China,” which Burns called a “key rival.”

The CIA is also pivoting to a greater focus on technology. Burns announced the intelligence agency would create a chief technology officer position and a new nerve center for its technology-related intelligence gathering, dubbed the “Transnational and Technology Mission Center.” 

The shift will include new efforts to hire for technology-related roles and policy changes that make it easier for the agency to recruit new talent.

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“Throughout our history, CIA has stepped up to meet whatever challenges come our way,” said Burns, according to a CIA press release. ” And now facing our toughest geopolitical test in a new era of great power rivalry, CIA will be at the forefront of this effort.”

CIA tries to make up ground

Long considered the preeminent intelligence agency in the world, the CIA has recently found itself behind on both allied and rival intelligence in a number of high-profile cases.

While the agency and sibling intelligence groups, like the National Security Agency, still boast a technological edge over rivals, the CIA has been criticized by allies for lacking visibility into priority countries, according to the New York Times, and seen top talent leave the agency at higher rates in recent years, per Just Security.

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The weakening of those networks has left policymakers blind on major topics of interest, like the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic in China or the stability of the Afghan government in Kabul.

The latest reforms follow a New York Times report that disclosed an internal CIA memo highlighting the agency’s recent failures at building spy networks in countries like China, Iran, Russia and Pakistan.

The memo found that the CIA, like the broader American national security community, had been exceptionally focused on counterterrorism efforts over the last two decades and had become lax in vetting sources.

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As a result, rival intelligence agencies had become more adept with new technologies like facial recognition, artificial intelligence and surveillance technology, while also learning how to break CIA intelligence networks within their countries.

The CIA’s announcement is part of a broader pivot by the Biden administration to retool the country’s military, diplomatic and intelligence bodies to better contend with rival countries like China, Iran and Russia while also addressing the needs of the U.S. and its allies.

Follow Matthew Brown online @mrbrownsir.

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