The Central Intelligence Agency is taking its espionage battle with China to a new front—digital screens and slick recruitment ads aimed at turning Chinese officials into spies. It’s a bold, public play. But behind the sleek imagery and measured promises lies a haunted history: one of the worst intelligence failures in modern American history!
The CIA has launched a bold new effort to tap into discontent within China’s political system, releasing two slick, Mandarin-language videos across social media platforms last week that openly invite Chinese officials to secretly spy for the United States.
Framed with cinematic flair, the videos are part of a broader campaign to exploit dissatisfaction among Chinese insiders frustrated by corruption and repression under the ruling Communist Party.
These videos appear to target those quietly disillusioned with the regime in Beijing—officials who may feel trapped in a system they no longer believe in. The messaging builds on a recruitment drive initiated by the CIA in October last year, aimed at cultivating sources inside authoritarian states like China, Iran, and North Korea.
“Our global mission requires that people anywhere in the world can contact the CIA securely,” reads the description accompanying one video. It depicts a fictional Chinese official wrestling with the life-altering decision to secretly approach the Agency. “We take seriously our duty to protect those who choose to work with us—which is why anyone wishing to share information about China should do so securely through our Dark Web portal.”
CIA Director John Ratcliffe reinforced the agency’s intent, stating, “One of the CIA’s core functions is gathering intelligence to inform the president and policymakers. Recruiting individuals who can help us uncover secrets is essential to that mission.”
CIA Message: A Call For Secrets—And Protection
One of the newly released CIA videos paints the portrait of a loyal Chinese official—a man who has dedicated his life to hard work and personal sacrifice, only to watch his efforts elevate his superiors rather than himself. Despite years of diligence and patriotism, he remains stuck in a system that rewards hierarchy over merit, ambition over integrity.
Frustrated by the futility of climbing an “involuted” bureaucracy, where upward mobility is stifled by corruption and favoritism, he begins to consider a different path—one that might finally give meaning to his struggles. In a moment of quiet defiance, he makes the difficult and important choice to contact the CIA securely, seeking not betrayal, but a form of justice: to reclaim agency over his life and his ideals.
The video doesn’t just dramatize espionage—it taps into a deeper theme of disillusionment, asking: what does one do when loyalty to a broken system becomes a dead end?
In the second CIA video, a sharply dressed senior Chinese official attends a lavish dinner—but beneath the polished surface, paranoia simmers. He senses betrayal brewing among his peers, fearing he could be the next to vanish like others before him.
“It is easy to become a memory,” he reflects. “And much too commonplace to just disappear.”
Haunted by the fragility of his power and the looming threat to his family, he realizes that rank offers no real protection. The whispers are growing louder. He makes a fateful choice. Quietly, he reaches for his phone and contacts the CIA through a secure portal.
“No matter what my fate will bring, my family will know a good life,” he says.
This video portrays a man who’s not defecting out of ideology but out of desperation to regain control over his life, protect what he’s built, and shield his loved ones from an increasingly volatile system.
The accompanying video descriptions further underscore the CIA’s message.
“We understand there are many reasons why Chinese citizens may reach out to us. We value and respect those who choose to engage. It is our professional responsibility to protect everyone who contacts us from all over the world,” the Agency affirms.
In a direct appeal, the CIA asks: “Do you have information on economic, trade, or fiscal policy? Are you involved in national defense, diplomacy, technology, or security? Or do you work with those who are? Your insights matter.”
Instructions for secure contact via the CIA’s Tor-based hidden service are emphasized throughout. “Our global mission depends on individuals being able to reach us safely, from anywhere. That’s why we’ve built the tools to make it possible—and why we are committed to safeguarding those who work with us.”
The CIA’s Catastrophic Collapse In China
Recruiting foreign agents has always been part of the CIA’s global playbook—but in China, the stakes have never been higher, and the risks more deadly.
The Agency’s efforts to penetrate the inner workings of the Chinese government have long faced immense challenges. Yet one episode stands out as a devastating low point: the systematic dismantling of the CIA’s spy network in China between 2010 and 2012—an intelligence disaster widely regarded as “one of the agency’s worst failures in decades”.
According to a 2017 New York Times investigation, Chinese authorities identified, captured, and either imprisoned or executed 18 to 20 CIA assets in just two years. Foreign Policy later reported that the actual number may have been even higher, at least 30.
One chilling account describes a suspected informant being executed in front of coworkers at a government compound, a brutal warning to others who might have considered cooperating with US intelligence.
This purge shocked the American intelligence community and triggered a frantic internal investigation. Some officials blamed a mole—an insider who had betrayed the CIA to Beijing. Others argued that the Chinese had discovered and compromised the agency’s encrypted communications system, a digital Achilles’ heel that exposed their informants.
Despite years of inquiry, the exact cause remains murky. As one former intelligence official told Foreign Policy, the consensus ultimately pointed to “a confluence and combination of events”—a perfect storm of human error, betrayal, and technological vulnerability.
The fallout was profound. The CIA lost invaluable human sources, years of cultivated access, and the ability to understand China’s internal political and security apparatus—arguably its most difficult and important intelligence target. The Chinese Communist Party’s sophisticated counterintelligence capabilities had outmatched the world’s most powerful spy agency.
Today, even as the CIA renews its recruitment efforts with high-profile videos aimed at Chinese officials, the shadow of that failure looms large. The agency knows that reaching into China’s tightly guarded core is not just a priority—it’s a perilous gamble.
The Other Side Of The Spy Game: China’s Counterintelligence Strikes Back
The espionage war hasn’t been one-sided. While the CIA has been working to infiltrate the Chinese state, Beijing has been equally—if not more—effective at turning the tables.
A lesser-known but deeply revealing episode highlights just how successful China has been in undermining US espionage efforts, even before the massive 2015 data breach that shook the American intelligence community.
That year, the Obama administration disclosed what was then described as one of the largest cyber intrusions in US history: hackers, allegedly linked to China, accessed the personnel records of over four million current and former federal employees, including individuals connected to sensitive intelligence roles. But years before that breach made headlines, China had already been systematically prying open American intelligence networks.
One of the most striking examples came to light in January 2018, when former CIA officer Jerry Chun Shing Lee was arrested.
According to court documents, Lee left the Agency in 2007 and relocated to Hong Kong. By 2010, he had been approached by two Chinese intelligence officers who offered him a tempting deal: $100,000 in cash upfront and lifelong financial support in exchange for the classified national defense information he had acquired as a CIA case officer. He eventually pleaded guilty to conspiring with Chinese spies—a betrayal that had potentially devastating consequences for US intelligence operations in the region.
“This is the third case in less than a year in which a former US intelligence officer has pled or been found guilty of conspiring with Chinese intelligence services,” said then–Assistant Attorney General John Demers, underlining the alarming pattern of American insiders being flipped by Beijing.
The case of Jerry Lee—and others like it—offers a sobering glimpse into China’s deepening counterespionage capabilities. While the CIA pushes forward with its recruitment of disillusioned Chinese officials, it does so knowing that its adversary has a proven track record of not only neutralizing spies but turning former US officers into assets of their own.
The Russian Mirror: Spy Games Go Both Ways
The CIA’s latest Mandarin-language recruitment video echoes a familiar strategy—one the agency has used before with striking effect.
In recent years, it has quietly released a series of Russian-language videos aimed at coaxing disillusioned Russians into sharing secrets with the US intelligence community. According to officials, those efforts have proved successful.
But the game cuts both ways.
In February, Russia struck back with a counteroffensive of its own. In a rare and bold move, Moscow released a video urging American “patriots”—disgruntled or ideologically alienated US citizens—to betray their country and hand over secrets to Russian intelligence. It was a cinematic attempt to flip the narrative and perhaps signal that the Kremlin is watching America’s internal fractures closely.
It was a psychological counterstrike, acknowledging the soft spots in US society: political polarization, economic uncertainty, and alienation among former federal employees.
A Gamble In The Dark
US intelligence officials warn that both China and Russia are aggressively exploiting emerging weak points, especially a quieter, growing concern: the shrinking ranks of federal employees, many of whom once held access to sensitive intelligence.
During the Trump administration, cost-cutting measures and early retirement buyouts led to thousands of skilled workers, including those with access to sensitive intelligence, leaving government service.
Both China and Russia, officials warn, see an opportunity in that exodus. Former CIA officers and defense personnel, now outside the tight controls of the system, could become targets for foreign recruitment.
In the world of psychological and digital espionage, the battlefield isn’t just on the ground—it’s in the mind, on screens, and in the quiet moments of doubt that intelligence agencies are so eager to exploit.
- Shubhangi Palve is a defense and aerospace journalist. Before joining the EurAsian Times, she worked for ET Prime. She has over 15 years of extensive experience in the media industry, spanning print, electronic, and online domains.
- Contact the author at shubhapalve (at) gmail.com
