Ministry of State Security (China)
国家安全部 Guójiā Ānquán Bù | ||
Hanyu Pinyin | Guójiā Ānquán Bù |
The Ministry of State Security (MSS or Guóānbù;
The origins of the MSS begin with the CCP's Central Special Branch, better known as the Teke, which was replaced by the Central Social Affairs Department (SAD) in 1936, which was in turn succeeded by the Central Investigation Department (CID) – the MSS's immediate predecessor – in 1955. In 1983 CID was merged with the counterintelligence elements of the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) to create the MSS.
The MSS is active in industrial and cyber espionage, where it has replaced the People's Liberation Army (PLA) as the country's most sophisticated and prolific advanced persistent threat actor.[5][6] It makes arrests through its own component of the People's Police, and maintains the authority to conduct its own extrajudicial court hearings.[7][8][9]
The ministry is also be known to be involved in transnational repression, organized crime, surveillance and harassment of dissidents abroad and influence operations targeting overseas Chinese diaspora in collaboration with the United Front Work Department.[10][11][9]
Today the agency is estimated to have at least 110,000 employees, with 10,000 directly attached to MSS headquarters and 100,000 spread across its dozens of provincial branches. The agency's military intelligence counterpart is the PLA Intelligence Bureau of the Joint Staff Department.
Overview
MSS functions as China's
According to sinologists Peter Mattis and Matthew Brazil, who have studied the MSS for many years:
"The language Chinese intelligence uses reflects its Marxist–Leninist and revolutionary heritage. The lexicon suggests (as has been borne out in interviews with former officials who had routine contacts with their Chinese counterparts) that the intelligence services are bastions of faith in the CCP. Although they may be practical in terms of techniques and methods to acquire intelligence, this information is filtered through a Marxist–Leninist lens. The implication is that foreign targets are viewed in the worst possible light."[4]
The MSS is a civilian agency, although it controls its own separate police force (the "State Security Police", one of the four components of the
Article 4 of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China gives the MSS the same authority to arrest or detain people as regular police for crimes involving state security with identical supervision by the procuratorates and the courts.
History
Central Special Branch (1928–1936)
In November 1927, the CCP established its first formal intelligence service, with Zhou Enlai founding the Central Special Branch (Chinese: 中央特科; pinyin: Zhōngyāng Tè Kē, often shortened to Teke; sometimes written Special Services Section (SSS)) to conduct "special operations" work.[4][18] With Xiang Zhongfa and Gu Shunzhang's assistance, Zhou designed the organization that many Chinese intelligence officers today see as the origins of their enterprise. Establishing secret bases across the Chinese territory, the Teke was composed of four sections led by Gu Shunzhang and Kang Sheng.[19][18]
- 1st Section, General Services Section (Chinese: 总务科; pinyin: Zǒngwù Kē), was responsible for the protection and safety of CCP headquarters and leaders to include making arrangements for secret meetings.[19] 1st Section was led by Hong Yangsheng (洪扬生).[20]
- 2nd Section, Intelligence Section (Chinese: 情报科; pinyin: Qíngbào Kē), was responsible for intelligence and counterintelligence and led by Chen Geng (陈赓), later to become the CCP's Vice Minister of National Defense.[19]
- 3rd Section, Operations Section (Chinese: 行动科; pinyin: Xíngdòng Kē), was the infamous "Red Guard" assassination section headed by Gu Shunzhang (顾顺章) whose "dog-beating squads" (打狗队) were tasked to kill traitors.[4][19]: 23
- 4th Section, Radio Communications Section (
Zhou's primary objective was to disrupt the Kuomintang's secret police attempts to penetrate the CCP which required both a defensive counterintelligence effort to identify potentially traitorous members of the party and an offensive intelligence effort to plant spies within the Kuomintang's security and intelligence services. To prevent leaks and limit damage caused by infiltration by Nationalist spies, agents of Teke were forbidden to have any relationship with other agents making the party so compartmentalized that many never knew the name of the organization only calling it "Wu Hao's Dagger", a reference to Zhou Enlai's nom de guerre.[19][18]
Based in Shanghai, Teke grew to become "a small army of messengers, people smugglers, and informers" with a constant presence in clubs, religious organizations, music groups, and brothels serving as Zhou Enlai's (and subsequently the CCP's) eyes and ears both in Shanghai and across the nation. Nonetheless, Teke had to compete with the newly established KMT Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (BIS) under the notorious Dai Li whose nickname as the "Chinese Himmler" lives on for his horrific torture record which included death in excruciating agony and forced heroin overdosing.[19] Under Dai Li, the BIS created vast networks of 100,000 operatives across and outside the borders of China and mastered new means of intercepting communist communications — an art taught to the KMT by American cryptographer Herbert Yardley for use against the Japanese. The overwhelming advantages of the KMT were challenged only by the extensive and thorough infiltration of the security services by Teke agents including Qian Zhuangfei, Li Kenong, and Hu Di.[19][18]
Gu Shunzhang, whom Zhou Enlai had chosen to head operations for Teke, would prove to be one of the most adversely consequential members of the CCP's underground intelligence ring. Having been born in Shanghai on "the wrong side of the tracks" according to French author Roger Faligot, Gu lived crudely out of bars smoking opium, having affairs, and joining the Green Gang but made a name for himself as a magician. Made a bodyguard for Mikhail Borodin, the Comintern agent and advisor to the Kuomintang from Soviet Russia, Gu was sent to Vladivostok to learn the tactics of insurrection and tradecraft of espionage as Borodin feared division between the Chinese nationalists and communists. A trained spy, Gu led Teke operations from the group's 1927 founding until 25 April 1931.[citation needed]
While performing the typical magic show for young children that usually covered for his espionage missions, a nationalist informer who had turned on the CCP recognized Gu from a photograph and alerted the KMT authorities. A number of KMT agents appeared and tackled Gu, not only gleeful to have detained one of their most challenging communist adversaries but successful in turning the spymaster against the communists making Gu the most notorious intelligence traitors in modern Chinese history. As Gu provided the KMT with a flood of Teke agents' names and safe house locations, Zhou's spy inside the BIS, Qian Zhuangfei, immediately notified Zhou and Kang Shang who were able to relocate every Teke agent within two days — avoiding a potential extermination of CCP's core. Some agents, however, were located and arrested. On 21 June 1931, presumably with help from Gu's defection, the KMT captured CCP General Secretary Xiang Zhongfa hiding in a jewelry store with his cabaret dancer mistress. Despite offering to convert to the KMT party, Xiang was shot by his jailers before the received word of Chiang Kai-shek's pardon. Though the CCP's nascent intelligence branch under Kang Shang had narrowly escaped destruction, the damage done by Gu's defection and the number of communist spy arrests attrited the group until, in 1935 the CCP elected to disband it. While many of Teke's agents moved to the Red Army's Political Protection Bureau (PPB) led by Dong Fa, the PPB focused entirely on counterintelligence meaning real intelligence collection would go largely dormant until the formation of the Social Affairs Department.[4][19]
Central Social Affairs Department (1936–1955)
In 1936, the CCP established in Yan'an, Shaanxi the Social Affairs Department, often abbreviated as SAD in English, to consolidate the party's foreign intelligence and counterintelligence efforts. It wasn't until 1938 when Kang Sheng took control of the department and restructured the organization that it took its final form in the merging of the preceding Special Branch, the Political Protection Bureau (which Kang Sheng had previously headed), and the Guard Office. The Political Protection Bureau provided rear area security to CCP forces prior to the Long March and close security to Mao during the march while the Guard Office established a local constabulary and counterintelligence service. Under Kang Sheng and his deputy Li Kenong, the SAD provided the CCP foreign intelligence, domestic intelligence, military security, and political security in every province in which communist forces held terrain.[19][18]
The Social Affairs Department was constructed similarly to the Soviet model (as Kang had been trained by Soviet intelligence in Moscow):[19][18]
- Section 1 was responsible for administration and personnel,
- Section 2 was responsible for intelligence collection,
- Section 3 was responsible for counterintelligence,
- Section 4 was responsible for intelligence analysis,
- Special section for security, and
- The "Executions Department"
From 1942 to 1944, as the Social Affairs Department expanded, Kang Sheng became paranoid and fearful of
Known by 1944 as the "party hangman", Kang was eventually opposed by Zhou Enlai and later Mao Zedong who forced Kang to produce his own self-criticism proclaiming that perhaps only 10 percent of the comrades accused were spies and, in November 1944, relieved him of the position as head of the Social Affairs Department. Various rumors for the cause of his removal endure. One version claims that his paranoid
Central Investigation Department (1955–1983)
In an effort to disaffiliate the intelligence service from Kang Sheng's paranoia-driven legacy of purges, the organization was renamed to the CCP Central Investigation Department (Chinese: 中央调查部; pinyin: Zhōngyāng Diàochá Bù) with only one SAD branch moved out to its own organization, the Legal and Administrative Work Department.[19]
In the 1950s, nearly every Chinese embassy abroad had an Investigation and Research Office, a cover for a group of intelligence officers belonging to the Central Investigation Department (CID) who kept close watch on diplomats and embassy staff, often sitting in on meetings and reporting back to CID headquarters' Eight Bureau (known later as the "Institute of Contemporary International Relations").[19][21][22]
On 9 February 1962, Li Kenong died after a period of illness from the residual effects of brain damage from a fall he had sustained three years prior. Kong Yuan, Kang Sheng's former secretary and friend of Zhou Enlai, ran the service with Zou Dapeng and Luo Qingchang as his deputies.[19]
Early in 1976, Mao Zedong and his defense chief Marshal
Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia
The most impactful embarrassment of the newly reestablished Central Investigative Department (or Diaochabu) was their inability to predict the
Hoping to force a Vietnamese withdrawal from its ally Cambodia, the People's Republic of China launched their own southward invasion across the border into Vietnam in February 1979 which was withdrawn four weeks later after heavy resistance by Vietnamese guerrillas bearing Soviet and American weapons.[citation needed] Nonetheless, head of the CCP Deng Xiaoping supported the Khmer Rouge for another ten years in exile limiting his criticism of the two million-victim genocide assessing "the domestic counterintelligence activities created a negative atmosphere, slowing down many activities and causing social problems as well as many other problems... A thorough study of this political aspect should be undertaken and concrete measures taken."[19]
End of the Diaochabu
At the end of the Cultural Revolution, as China struggled to regain its footing after a tumultuous decade, Deng Xiaoping and his fellow reformers Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang endeavored down the road of governmental reform. CCP general secretary Hu Yaobang decried Kang Sheng's destructive and paranoid legacy in a speech in November 1978 enumerating many of the crimes Kang Sheng had been found guilty of, up to and through the Cultural Revolution. Kang's condemnation was bolstered by the investigation prepared by Luo Qingchang's Central Investigative Department which detailed how Kang had organized the Yan'an purges and named any of his opponents "counter-revolutionary".[19]
Deng Xiaoping was himself a victim of Mao's Cultural Revolution, the Gang of Four, and Kang Sheng's secret police. Deng's son, Deng Pufang, became paraplegic and needed to use a wheelchair after Red Guards threw him from a high window. After these experiences, Deng was committed to reforming the Chinese intelligence services. Deng first initiated a small but meaningful campaign to degrade Kang Sheng's legacy, which began with Hu Yaobang's speech. Next, Deng subordinated the Central Investigative Department into a minor political organ. Finally, Deng took all the "external intelligence expertise" from the Central Investigative Department and consolidated it and all the CCP's espionage and counterintelligence functions into a new, "revolutionized" Chinese intelligence service, fitting of the new era of the Chinese "opening-up" to the world.[19]
Ministry of State Security (1983–present)
Proposed by Premier Zhao Ziyang and Minister of Public Security Liu Fuzhi and approved at the first session of the sixth National People's Congress (NPC), the Ministry of State Security (MSS) was approved on 20 June 1983 to be a merger between the Central Investigation Department and the Bureau of Investigating Counterrevolutionaries (or the First Bureau) of the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) to "protect the security of the state and strengthen China's espionage work".[4][19][25][26][27] The following day, the NPC appointed Ling Yun to be the first Minister of State Security which would announce its establishment on 1 July 1983.[4] There were serious political reasons behind the merger, as Luo Qingchang, who had been Director of the CID since 1973 and was a powerful player in Chinese Communist intelligence since the 1940s, was a fierce opponent of Deng Xiaoping. Although Deng had risen to supreme power in the late 1970s, he initially couldn't remove Luo from his post, until he finally succeeded in 1983.[4] But even after this, Luo still remained influential as an adviser on the Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs.[4] Although the MSS maintains loyalty to party and ideology as a central mission,[28] its founding represents the first time that a Chinese intelligence organ was placed under the State Council instead of the party.[4]
The 1st Bureau of the new MSS managed internal affairs and security in each of the provinces with the help of local and regional offices. The MSS also maintained a number of concentration camps (
One of the longest-serving Ministers of State Security was
Under Xi Jinping
Since CCP general secretary Xi Jinping assumed power in 2012, the MSS gained more responsibility over cyberespionage vis-à-vis the PLA, and has sponsored various advanced persistent threat groups such as Double Dragon.[32][33] In October 2018, the Deputy Minister of State Security, Yanjun Xu, was charged with economic espionage by the United States prosecutors.[34]
On May 28, 2021, a federal grand jury in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California returned an indictment against four People's Republic of China (PRC) citizens for their alleged roles in a long running campaign of computer network operations targeting trade secrets, intellectual property, and other high value information from companies, universities, research institutes, and governmental entities in the United States and abroad, as well as multiple foreign governments. The indictment alleges that Zhu Yunmin, Wu Shurong, Ding Xiaoyang, and Cheng Qingmin targeted the following sectors: aerospace/aviation, biomedical, defense industrial base, healthcare, manufacturing, maritime, research institutes, transportation (rail and shipping), and virus research from 2012 to 2018, on behalf of the PRC Ministry of State Security. Additionally, the indictment alleges the use of
In July 2023, the MSS opened a WeChat account, where it wrote its first post that it wishes to popularize counterintelligence among the population and make such activity "normal" with systems of rewards.[37] In another post in September, the MSS criticized the policies of the United States towards China, saying that the US was "decoupling and disconnecting at the economic level, ganging up at the political level, deterrence and containment at the security level, discrediting and disparaging at the public opinion level, and constraining and locking down at the rules level".[38]
In January 2024, the MSS published a list of "10 conditions", euphemistically referred to as "cups of tea"[39] to its official WeChat channel; which would subject individuals to scrutiny and questioning by state security authorities, including but not limited to: endangering national security, illegally acquiring or holding state secrets, committing or assisting espionage, refusing to cooperate in an espionage investigation, leaking state secrets related to counter-espionage and intelligence works and "failing to take security precautions against spying".[40]
China portal |
Contemporary activities
The MSS recruits new intelligence officers primarily from major universities, police and military academies.[41]
In March 2009, former MSS operative Li Fengzhi told the
In 2012, an executive assistant to MSS vice minister Lu Zhongwei was found to have been passing information to the CIA. Lu Zhongwei was not formally charged, but that incident was said to have infuriated Hu Jintao and led to a tightening on information dissemination and increased counterintelligence activities in Beijing and abroad.[43]
The Shanghai State Security Bureau (SSSB) of the MSS has repeatedly been involved in both failed and successful attempts to recruit foreign agents. In 2010, the SSSB directed US citizen Glenn Duffie Shriver to apply for a position at the National Clandestine Service of the CIA. In 2017, SSSB case workers were implicated in the recruitment of US Department of State employee Candace Claiborne who was charged with obstruction of justice.[44]
In 2013, a Chinese driver was employed by Senator Dianne Feinstein who was notified that the driver was being investigated for possible Chinese spying. At some point, he visited China and was recruited by China's MSS. He worked for Senator Feinstein for several years. The FBI concluded the driver hadn't revealed anything of substance.[45]
The fundamental purpose of our counter-espionage struggle is to defend the security interests of our country. We must take resolute measures and never allow any country or political force to infiltrate, subvert or sabotage us. But we will also never carry out infiltration, subversion, and sabotage against other countries because we are a socialist country led by the Communist Party of China, which is determined by the nature of our country..
..The combination of public and secret, and the combination of specialised groups, is a fine tradition of our Party and an effective magic weapon in our concealed front to counter traitors and prevent spies. We must carry forward this fine tradition and make new developments in the new situation.
— Qiu Jin (邱 进), Deputy Minister for National Security: Study and implement the anti-spy law with the overall national security concept as a guide[46], People's Daily (February 12, 2015)
During January 2017, the FBI arrested Candace Claiborne, a State Department employee who had previously worked in the American Embassy in Beijing between 2009 and 2012. In April 2019 Claiborne pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to defraud the United States. Prosecutors argued that she had passed sensitive information to the MSS.[47]
Companies such as Huawei, China Mobile, and China Unicom have been implicated in MSS intelligence collection activities.[48][49]
In 2017, MSS officials entered the United States on the pretense of transit visas as cultural officials. During the visit the officials made an attempt to persuade Chinese dissident
In 2019, according to a report released by the European External Action Service, there were an estimated 250 MSS spies operating in Brussels.[51]
In September 2020, a journalist, a Chinese MSS operative and her Nepalese informant were arrested in India for providing classified information about Indian army deployments in Doklam area and India's Ministry of External Affairs to two officers of Yunnan State Security Department (YSSD) of the MSS.[52]
In December 2020, 10 MSS Operatives of Xinjiang State Security Department (XSSD) were arrested in
In February 2021, The Daily Telegraph reported that Britain had expelled three MSS agents posing as journalists.[55]
In March 2021, at least six Chinese bloggers were arrested by MSS for 'insulting'
In late April 2021, the Ministry of State Security announced that it was introducing several new measures to fight alleged infiltration by "hostile forces" of Chinese companies and other institutions. These measures include drawing up a list of companies and organizations considered to be at risk of foreign infiltration and requiring them to take security measures. In addition, staff travelling on business trips to the Five Eyes countries (the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand) have been ordered to report all contacts with foreign personnel, participate in anti-espionage seminars, and leaving mobile phones, laptops, and USB drives at home before traveling abroad.[57][58]
In September 2022, it was reported during Congressional testimony that the FBI had informed Twitter of at least one MSS agent on its payroll.[59]
In December 2023, a joint investigation by Financial Times, Der Spiegel and Le Monde reported that Belgium former senator Frank Creyelman accepted bribes from MSS for three years to influence discussions within the European Union.[60]
In March 2024, the MSS warned that overseas intelligences services had used foreign consulting firms as a cover to steal classified information and pose "major risks to national security."[61]
Cyberespionage
In 2017, the cyberespionage threat group known as Gothic Panda or APT3 was determined to have
In 2018, the United States Department of Justice indicted two individuals of the cyber-espionage group APT10, which it stated was under the direction of the Tianjin State Security Bureau (TSSB) of MSS.[63]
In 2020, the United States Department of Justice indicted two MSS contractors who were involved in hacking Moderna, a biotechnology company developing a vaccine for the COVID-19 pandemic.[64][65] In September 2020, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency released a security advisory regarding hacking by groups affiliated with the MSS.[66]
In March 2024, the United States Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and UK government sanctioned an MSS front company called Wuhan Xiaoruizhi Science and Technology and affiliated individuals for placing malware in critical infrastructure and breaching the UK Electoral Commission.[67][68]
Surveillance of ethnic minorities
Domestically, the MSS undertakes surveillance of ethnic minorities, especially in Tibet and Xinjiang.[69]: 121
Surveillance and harassment of dissidents abroad
In the United States, MSS officers were reported to have worked with students affiliated with local university chapters of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association to surveil other students.[70]
The core of political security is regime and institutional security, the most fundamental of which is to safeguard the leadership and governing position of the Communist Party of China and the socialist system with Chinese characteristics...national security organs have always placed the maintenance of political security at the top of their agenda, and have made political security their main focus.
— Ministry of State Security statement, 15 August 2023[28]
During the 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay, MSS agents coordinated counter-protesters to disrupt pro-Tibetan independence demonstrations in San Francisco.[71][72]
In September 2020, A New York City Police Officer of Tibetan descent was arrested for gathering information on Tibetan American community for the Tibet State Security Department (TSSD) of MSS. He was also trying to recruit potential informants inside the local Tibetan community.[73][74] In January 2023, federal prosecutors moved to dismiss charges against the officer.[75]
In March 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted individuals, including an MSS officer, for surveilling and conspiring to harass Chinese American pro-democracy dissidents, including political candidate Xiong Yan, Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu and her father Arthur Liu.[76][77][78] In May 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice charged a US citizen for spying under the direction of the MSS on Hong Kong pro-democracy activists, Taiwan independence supporters, and Uyghur and Tibetan activists.[79]
In December 2023, a joint investigation by Financial Times, Der Spiegel and Le Monde reported an agent of the Zhejiang branch of the MSS had been tasked with discrediting German anthropologist Adrian Zenz.[60]
United front activities
The ministry also carries out
Directors
Below are the heads of the MSS and its predecessors, the Social Affairs Department and Central Investigation Department. Since 1983, agency heads carry the title of Minister of State Security (MSS), reporting directly to the State Council.[citation needed]
Social Affairs Department (1939–1955)
No. | Portrait | Director | Took office | Left office | Time in office | Leader |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Kang Sheng 康生 (born 1898) | 1939 | 1949 | 10 years | Mao Zedong | |
2 | Li Kenong 李克农 (born 1899) | 1949 | 1955 | 6 years | Mao Zedong |
Central Investigation Department (1955–1983)
No. | Portrait | Director | Took office | Left office | Time in office | Leader |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Li Kenong 李克农 (born 1899) | 1955 | 1962 | 7 years | Mao Zedong | |
2 | Kong Yuan 孔原 (born 1906) | 1962 | 1967 | 5 years | Mao Zedong | |
3 | Wang Dongxing 汪东兴 (born 1916) | 1967 | 1969 | 2 years | Mao Zedong | |
4 | Kang Sheng 康生 (born 1898) | 1969 | 1973 | 4 years | Mao Zedong | |
5 | Luo Qingchang 罗青长 (born 1918) | 1973 | 1983 | 10 years | Mao Zedong Deng Xiaoping |
Ministry of State Security (1983–present)
No. | Portrait | Minister | Took office | Left office | Time in office | Leader |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | June 1, 1983 | September 1, 1985 | 2 years, 92 days | Deng Xiaoping | ||
2 | Jia Chunwang 贾春旺 (born 1938) | September 1, 1985 | March 1, 1998 | 12 years, 181 days | Deng Xiaoping Jiang Zemin | |
3 | Xu Yongyue 许永跃 (born 1942) | March 1, 1998 | August 1, 2007 | 9 years, 153 days | Jiang Zemin Hu Jintao | |
4 | Geng Huichang 耿惠昌 (born 1951) | August 30, 2007 | November 7, 2016 | 9 years, 96 days | Hu Jintao Xi Jinping | |
5 | Chen Wenqing 陈文清 (born 1960) | November 7, 2016 | October 30, 2022 | 5 years, 357 days | Xi Jinping | |
5 | Chen Yixin 陈一新 (born 1959) | October 30, 2022 | Incumbent | 1 year, 177 days | Xi Jinping |
Notes: Wang Dongxing directed the Central Investigation Department while it was under
Organization
According to the Federation of American Scientists, MSS headquarters is in the Xiyuan (Chinese: 西苑; pinyin: Xīyuàn; lit. 'Western Park') area of Beijing's Haidian District.[82] According to David Wise, Xiyuan also contains other MSS facilities.[83] Bureaus may use cover identities under "one institution with two names".
Bureau | Chinese name | English name | Responsibilities |
---|---|---|---|
First | Confidential Communication Bureau | Management and administration of confidential communications[citation needed] | |
Second | International Intelligence Bureau[citation needed] | Lead bureau for 'open line' foreign operations under official cover, collecting strategic international intelligence, particularly political intelligence.[7]
| |
Third | Political and Economic Intelligence Bureau[citation needed] | Gathering political, economic, and scientific intelligence from various countries[citation needed] | |
Fourth | 台港澳局[4] | Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau Bureau[4] | Intelligence work in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau[4] The Institute of Taiwan Studies is its public facing front for Taiwan operations.[7] |
Fifth | 情报分析通报局[4] | Report Analysis and Dissemination Bureau[4] | Analysis and reporting on intelligence and collecting guidance on how to handle intelligence matters, responsible for coordinating operations with provincial bureaus[7] |
Sixth | Operational Guidance Bureau[citation needed] | Directing and supervising the activities of provincial level MSS offices[citation needed] | |
Seventh | 反间谍情报局[4] | Counterespionage Bureau[4] | Gathering information and developing intelligence on hostile intelligence services inside and outside China[4] |
Eighth | 反间谍侦察局[4][84] | Counterespionage Investigation Bureau[4] | Monitoring, investigating, and apprehending foreigners (often diplomats, businessmen, and journalists)[85] suspected of espionage in China[4] |
Ninth | 对内保防侦察局[4] | Internal Security and Anti-Reconnaissance Bureau[4] | Protecting the MSS from infiltration by foreign entities by monitoring domestic reactionary organizations and foreign institutions[4] |
Tenth | 对外保防侦察局[4] | External Security and Anti-Reconnaissance Bureau[4] | Monitoring students organizations and institutions abroad in order to investigate international anti-communist and reactionary activities, protecting overseas staff[4] |
Eleventh | 中国现代国际关系研究所[4] | China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations[4][7] | Performs open-source research, translation, and analysis often meeting foreign delegations or traveling abroad as visiting fellows[4] |
Twelfth | 社会调查局[4] | Social Investigation Bureau[7] | Conducting polling, surveying the population, and managing the China International Culture Exchange Center.[7] Once the dominant bureau for US operations[7] |
Thirteenth | 中国信息安全测评中心[4] | China Information Technology Security Evaluation Center[4] | Better known as the China Information Technology Security Evaluation Center (CNITSEC), the bureau oversees science and technology projects and China's national computer vulnerability database, the Chinese National Vulnerability Database[4][86] |
Fourteenth | 技术侦查局[4] | Technical Reconnaissance Bureau[4] | Inspecting mail and telecommunications[4] |
Fifteenth | Unknown | Taiwan operations include the public-facing Institute of Taiwan Studies at the China Academy of Social Sciences[4][87] | |
Sixteenth | Imaging Intelligence Division[citation needed] | Collection and analysis of geospatial intelligence from overhead reconnaissance, utilizing both airborne and space-based collection platforms.[citation needed] | |
Seventeenth | Enterprises Division[citation needed] | Operation and management of MSS owned front companies, enterprises, and other institutions[citation needed ]
| |
Eighteenth | United States Operations Bureau[4] | Conducting and managing clandestine intelligence operations in and against the United States[4] |
Many MSS personnel are trained at the University of International Relations in Haidian, due north of MSS housing and offices in Xiyuan, as well as Jiangnan Social University.[88][89]
China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations
The Ministry of State Security operates the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR, pronounced KICK-er), an academic think tank on international affairs.[4][84]
CICIR was the eighth bureau of the former Central Investigation Department (CID) of the Central Committee, but became the eleventh bureau of the MSS when the CID was merged with the counter-intelligence department of the Ministry of Public Security to form the new Ministry of State Security in 1983.[84]
Although the Chinese government has not publicly acknowledged CICIR's connection to the MSS, numerous press reports, scholars, and think tanks within and without China have detailed the relationship between the two organizations.[84][4][7] The institute is managed by the MSS, and overseen by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.[90][91][84] The organization itself does not speak much about its relationship with the Chinese government; however, and Chinese media reports rarely acknowledge the institution's ties with the regime.[84]
See also
- National Security Commission of the Chinese Communist Party
- Ministry of Public Security (China)
- Chinese intelligence activity abroad
- National Intelligence Law of the People's Republic of China
- National Security Law of the People's Republic of China
References
- ISBN 978-1-107-02323-9.
The MSS headquarters was located where the previous CID was, at No. 100 Xiyuan, a location with tight security in the western suburbs of Beijing
- ^ Mattis, Peter (9 July 2017). "Everything We Know about China's Secretive State Security Bureau". The National Interest. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
- OCLC 1118472067. Archivedfrom the original on 2020-08-23. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
- ^ OCLC 1117319580.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-05-13.
- ^ Dilanian, Ken (October 9, 2018). "They're back: Chinese hackers are stealing from U.S. firms again". NBC News. Retrieved 2023-05-13.
Dmitri Alperovitch said his firm is observing an increase in hacks by China's Ministry of State Security, which he says is far more adept and proficient than the People's Liberation Army, which previously had conducted most of the hacks into private Western companies. "That's troubling, because they've always been the better actor," he said.
- ^ OCLC 1347020692.
- ISBN 978-1-107-02323-9.
Like the MPS, the MSS has a wide scope of authority in domestic intelligence activities, and that authority overlaps with the law enforcement responsibilities of the MPS. Thus, the MSS not only is involved in police functions (similar to the U.S. FBI) but also fulfills other roles, such as court hearings (akin to the role of the judiciary in Western democracies).
- ^ a b Sebastian, Rotella; Berg, Kirsten (2022-10-11). "How a Chinese American Gangster Transformed Money Laundering for Drug Cartels". ProPublica. Retrieved 2024-01-14.
- ^ Zhang, Albert (2023-07-24). "China's cyber interference and transnational crime groups in Southeast Asia". The Strategist. Retrieved 2024-01-14.
- ^ Rotella, Sebastian (2023-07-12). "Outlaw Alliance: How China and Chinese Mafias Overseas Protect Each Other's Interests". ProPublica. Retrieved 2024-01-14.
- ^ See:
- Blanchard, Ben (February 6, 2017). "China to try former secret police official for bribery". Reuters. Archived from the original on February 11, 2017. Retrieved June 17, 2017.
China will prosecute a former high ranking official in its secret police for suspected bribery...Ma Jian, once a vice minister at China's Ministry of State Security
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Further reading
- ISBN 9781787380967.
- ISBN 9781743589007.
- Mattis, Peter; Brazil, Matthew (2019). ISBN 9781682473047.
- Cheng Ming, Tan Po (1997-03-01). "Spy Headquarters Behind the Shrubs". Secrets About CPC Spies (233). Hong Kong: 34–37. - FBIS-CHI-97-047 (1 March 1997)