FBI chief: Chinese government the biggest threat to U.S.
NORFOLK,VA.— The Chinese government is the single greatest threat to the economic and national security of the United States, FBI Director Christopher Wray said Wednesday at the bureau’s Norfolk Field Office.
Noting that he was in Hampton Roads — home to the world’s largest naval base and several other crucial military installations and defense contractors — Wray said risks from across the Pacific must be a primary area of national focus.
Wray’s comments came less than two weeks after an F-22 fighter jet from Langley Air Force Base in Hampton shot down a Chinese “spy balloon” off the South Carolina coast. The balloon had sailed across the continental United States for about a week.
“There is no greater threat to our economic security, our national security, our inno- vation, our ideas, than the Chinese government,” the FBI director said in a Q&A with local media. “I’ve said that repeatedly since I started in this job, and it has only become more true in many ways with time.”
As the lead federal agency combating cyber threats and intelligence theft, he said, the FBI is working to protect military and economic assets “that are rightly admired around the world by our friends and envied all over the world by our adversaries.”
“We need to help our national security establish- ment but also the business community better protect itself from the threats that come from the Chinese government,” Wray said.
“The Chinese government has the largest hacking program in the world — bigger than every other nation combined. And they’ve stolen more of our personal and corporate data than any other nation.”
Wray has led the FBI — with about 35,000 employees across the country — since November 2017.
He was visiting the agency’s Norfolk Field Office in Chesapeake, including talking with local FBI leadership and recognizing a citizens group, the “FBI Norfolk Citizens Academy Alumni Association,” for its seventh straight Chapter of Excellence award.
He also spoke with local media outlets for about 30 minutes. Wray gave the keynote address Thursday at a national security symposium at Christopher Newport University in Newport News.
In recognizing the alumni association — a group of citizens who “graduated” from an FBI program to teach them about the agency’s operations — Wray said the association quickly “rose to the occasion” after the recent mass shooting at a Chesapeake Walmart.