U.S. Counterintelligence Organizations

Agencies

The U.S. Intelligence Community consists of the following 18 organizations:

  • The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI)
  • The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
  • The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)
  • The National Security Agency (NSA)
  • The National Geospatial- Intelligence Agency (NGA)
  • The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO)
  • The intelligence elements of the five DoD services; the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Space Force.

Seven offices within other departments and agencies —

  1. the Department of Energy’s Office of Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence;
  2. the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis;
  3. U.S. Coast Guard Intelligence;
  4. the Department of Justice’s Federal Bureau of Investigation
  5. the Drug Enforcement Agency’s Office of National Security Intelligence;
  6. the Department of State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research;
  7. the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis.

All of these agencies and offices have some counterintelligence function.

 

DNI

All national counterintelligence policy is coordinated by the National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC). Presidential Executive Order EO 13467, assigned the DNI responsibility for effective and uniform policies and procedures governing access to classified information for the Intelligence Community (IC) and government-wide. Inside the NCSC is the National Insider Threat Task Force (NITTF). The NITTF works government wide to prevent the compromise of classified information by malicious insiders and to establish programs to protect federal classified networks.

 

FBI

Inside the United States the FBI is the lead agency for exposing, preventing, and investigating foreign intelligence activities. The goals of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division are to:

  • Protect the secrets of the U.S. Intelligence Community, using intelligence to focus investigative efforts, and collaborating with our government partners to reduce the risk of espionage and insider threats.
  • Protect the nation’s critical assets, like our advanced technologies and sensitive information in the defense, intelligence, economic, financial, public health, and science and technology sectors.
  • Counter the activities of foreign spies.
  • Keep weapons of mass destruction from falling into the wrong hands and use intelligence to drive the FBI’s investigative efforts to keep threats from becoming reality.

 

FBI Focus on China

Confronting the threat from Communist China is the FBI’s top counterintelligence priority.

The Chinese government employs tactics that seek to influence lawmakers and public opinion to achieve policies that are more favorable to China.At the same time, the Chinese government is seeking to become the world’s greatest superpower through predatory business practices, systematic theft of intellectual property, and brazen cyber intrusions.

China targets businesses, academic institutions, researchers, lawmakers, and the general public.

Speaking in August 2020 FBI Director Wray said, “If you are an American adult, it is more likely than not that China has stolen your personal data.”

Wray also stated that the FBI opens a new case related to China every 10 hours and that 50% of the roughly 5,000 active FBI counterintelligence cases – roughly 2,500 – relate to China.He also discussed what he called China’s “malign foreign influence” operations, efforts to pivot the country’s policies, public discourse, and ultimately “undermine confidence in our democratic processes and values.”

 

Additional resources

 

 

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