Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

Recently, a joint investigation team composed of the National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center, the National Engineering Laboratory for Computer Virus Prevention Technology and 360 Digital Security Group conducted a panoramic restoration of the smear campaign on China by the US, in which "Volt Typhoon" was labeled as a "Chinese state-sponsored hacker group." Among the details disclosed, FBI Director Christopher Wray and his team frequently appeared and committed at least "three sins" against people in the US and around the world.

The first "sin" is deceiving the US Congress for a huge budget. According to disclosed information, the US intelligence system consists of 18 organizations, of which the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are the most "well-known," with a combined annual budget of more than $34 billion. The CIA is responsible for foreign intelligence and covert subversive operations. The NSA, which is affiliated with the Department of Defense, is mainly engaged in electronic reconnaissance missions. The FBI, as an agency under the Department of Justice, is mainly responsible for counterintelligence and counter-terrorism in the US, and its budget and influence are smaller than that of the CIA and the NSA. In fiscal year 2019, the FBI's total budget was approximately $9.6 billion, while as early as 2013, the CIA's budget was almost $15 billion.

In order to change this situation, FBI Director Wray, who was appointed by former US president Donald Trump and remains in the current President Joe Biden's administration, did not hesitate to make false statements to the US Congress. From May 2023 to January 2024, the FBI and other intelligence agencies continued to intimidate Congress with "intelligence" related to the fictitious "Volt Typhoon" organization, and Wray continued to point fingers at China. On January 31, he even falsely claimed that Chinese hackers had been "targeting" important infrastructure such as telecommunication networks, transportation, and water treatment systems, and that once an attack was launched, it would cause serious harm to the American public. Judging from the results, Wray and the FBI gained a lot from such accusations in recent years: The FBI's 2024 budget has increased to approximately $11.386 billion, an increase of 18.6 percent from 2019; the US government also increased its budget for cybersecurity in fiscal year 2025 by 10 percent, reaching $13 billion.

Christopher Wray's second "sin" is the unscrupulous promotion of the "China threat theory" to expand the FBI's powers and maintain the legal basis for the FBI's "warrantless surveillance" on the American people - Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). This Act allows US intelligence agencies to conduct electronic surveillance of non-US persons located abroad without any authorization as long as it is in the name of "national security." In November 2021, longtime Republican operative Roger Stone stated "We have a group of politicized thugs​ ​at the top of the FBI who are using the FBI … as Joe Biden's personal Gestapo." Polls showed that 46 percent of those surveyed supported this statement at the time, a number that later increased to 53 percent.

Internal monitoring has always been an important source of influence for the FBI, as well as an important lever for its cooperation with American financial capital groups. The FISA Section 702 was enacted in 2008, coinciding with the global financial crisis. The FBI has records of monitoring and prosecuting foreign citizens suspected of commercial crimes, which benefits American companies. Since 2020, Wray has frequently claimed that foreign "cyber intrusions" threaten the economic security and national security of the US, and the FBI lacks the assistance from American small business owners and local governments, which hinders the FBI's efforts to combat "hacker activities." With the push from Wray and other intelligence agencies, on April 19, Section 702 of FISA, which seriously threatens the privacy of American and foreign citizens, was passed to continue for two years. This marked the second reauthorization of this law during Wray's tenure.

Out of concern for the awakening of public consciousness and the fear of losing unipolar hegemony, Wray fabricated rumors related to China, deceiving the American people. This political corruption is his third "sin." The more the FBI monitors the privacy of the people, the more they discover the extreme disappointment of the American people toward the government, leading them to deceive the people and exaggerate the so-called "China threat." As the birthplace of internet technology, American companies such as Microsoft, Cisco, and Netgear have relied on advanced technology and root server advantages to dominate the world while also playing a key role in American cyber warfare. However, as US development slows down, instead of looking for reasons within itself, the US has started to hype up the "China threat" out of fear of its own unipolar hegemony crumbling. Wray and the FBI he leads fully implement the will of the US decision-makers, fabricating various rumors to smear China, attempting to divert the attention of the American people and provide ammunition to the lawmakers who seek votes by presenting an anti-China stance.

Wray and the FBI's "three sins" are actually a microcosm of the entire American intelligence community. Former director of the National Security Agency Paul Nakasone and Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Jen Easterly are also prominent figures in smearing China for personal gains. These intelligence agencies are either government-affiliated or serve the military, but their essence is to serve the US, as well as the supra-national power behind the facade of American democracy - the American financial capital group. In this sense, America is "sick," paranoid and hysterical. But the "cause" of the illness is not China, but America's own demons. This is a systemic decay, orchestrated by collusion between capital, politicians, and lackeys in order to delay the outbreak of the disease by drinking poison to quench thirst, leading to political corruption. The results are foreseeable.

The author is a national security strategy research scholar. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn