CIA shares videos luring informants from China, Iran and North Korea

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) shared an instructional video in which they sought to recruit informants in China, North Korea and Iran. The video was shared by the agency on Wednesday on its official pages on X, YouTube, Instagram, Telegram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Dark Web, with videos in Mandarin, Korean and Farsi.

“CIA is providing instructions in multiple languages on how to securely contact us,” the body said in a statement. The video in Mandarin was over two minutes long and offered only written instruction, assuring potential applicants that “your safety and well-being remain our top priority”.

The video also mentioned that “you know your situation best, so we ask you to take the appropriate steps to protect yourself” and asked prospective informants to contact using “a computer or network that can’t be linked to your identity”.

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安全联系美国中央情报局（CIA）https://t.co/PyjPgvNqW2 pic.twitter.com/6ZU3rhGzWd

— CIA (@CIA) October 2, 2024

China reacts

In an emailed statement to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington, warned that “any attempts to drive a wedge between the Chinese people and the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] or to weaken their close bond, will inevitably fail”.

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He insisted that the people of China had “overcome numerous challenges with resilience and perseverance” to emerge as the world’s second-largest economy.” Interestingly, the recruitment effort follows a recruitment effort by the CIA in January, seeking Russian spies to work as double agents.

The campaign featured a dramatic video shared by the body across all social media platforms. At the time, CIA Director William Burns said he viewed the initiative as a “rare opportunity” to connect with Russians disillusioned by Moscow’s foreign policy. In response to this, the Kremlin dismissed the video reminding the CIA that X, formerly known as Twitter, has been banned in Russia since 2022 – the same year Moscow invaded Ukraine.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, a CIA spokesperson told Reuters: “Our efforts on this front have been successful in Russia, and we want to make sure individuals in other authoritarian regimes know that we’re open for business."  The latest video came as the CIA struggles to rebuild ties with its spies in China. They are yet to recover from the damage after 20 informants were caught in the country almost a decade ago.

However, the agency’s deputy director, David Cohen, suggested that China’s economic slowdown and President Xi Jinping’s consolidation of power provide an opportune moment to seek fresh informants. “There are many individuals with access to information who are disillusioned with the Xi regime,” Bloomberg quoted him as saying on Wednesday.

With inputs from agencies.