FILE – FBI Director Christopher Wray speaks at a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington, on Nov. 8, 2021. Wray says the threat to the West from the Chinese government is “more brazen” and damaging than ever before. In a speech on Jan. 31, 2022, at the Reagan Presidential Library in California, Wray accused Beijing of stealing American ideas and innovation and launching massive hacking operations. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
FBI Director Christopher Wray gave a speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in which he accused the Chinese government of conducting cyber attacks on the U.S. Wray, who is a long-time critic of China, claimed they found a recent uptick of spying activity while citing the results of 2,000 investigations conducted by the FBI.
“When we tally up what we see in our investigations, over 2,000 of which are focused on the Chinese government trying to steal our information or technology,” he explained. “There’s just no country that presents a broader threat to our ideas, our innovation and our economic security than China.”
The FBI director also spoke on the countermeasures the FBI is taking to prevent these alleged cyber attacks. The bureau, according to Wray, is constantly opening new cases for counter intelligence operations.
“The Chinese government steals staggering volumes of information and causes deep, job-destroying damage across a wide range of industries,” he continued. “So much so that as you heard, we’re constantly opening new cases to counter their intelligence operations about every 12 hours or so.”
Wray concluded his speech by giving a warning about the dangers of these potential acts of industrial espionage.
“The harm from the Chinese government’s economic espionage isn’t just that its companies pull ahead based on illegally gotten technology,” he stated. “While they pull ahead, they push our companies and workers behind.”
The results of the FBI’s investigations have not yet been published, but the Department of Justice is in the process of reviewing its own investigation into alleged cyber attacks from China.
