FBI chief: Threat from China ‘more brazen’ than ever before
Associated PressWASHINGTON — The threat to the West from the Chinese government is “more brazen” and damaging than ever before, FBI Director Christopher Wray said Monday night in accusing Beijing of stealing American ideas and innovation and launching massive hacking operations. “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, there’s just no country that presents a broader threat to our ideas, innovation, and economic security than China,” Wray said, according to a copy of the speech provided by the FBI. It’s harm felt across the country, by workers in a whole range of industries.” Chinese government officials have repeatedly rejected accusations from the U.S. government, with the spokesman for the embassy in Washington saying last July that Americans have “made groundless attacks” and malicious smears about Chinese cyberattacks. “But I want to focus on it here tonight because it’s reached a new level — more brazen, more damaging, than ever before, and it’s vital — vital — that all of us focus on that threat together.” The Justice Department in 2014 indicted five Chinese military officers on charges of hacking into major American corporations.