Oversight Committee Releases Report Exposing the CCP’s Destructive Political Warfare and Influence Operations
Someone in the US government is not afraid to use “political warfare.” We should know that the best counter to our enemies' political warfare strategy is to execute our own superior political warfare strategy.
There is a 300 page report from the committee at this link: https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/CCP-Report-10.24.24.pdf
It is going to take me some time to wade through it. I hope there is some useful information in it. This is a majority staff report so it compliments Trump though I do not think he really understood this problem and it was his national security team (Pottinger and McMaster and Schadlow) who really understood the issues. But this should in no way be a partisan issue.
Excerpts from the EXSUM of the report.
The CCP’s fight against the United States relies on its deployment of unrestricted warfare and political warfare.3 In many ways, unrestricted warfare—and political warfare, a component thereof—is a prelude to larger, more direct conflicts, which the CCP anticipates. Through political warfare, the CCP seeks to establish footholds, dependencies, and both willing and unwitting allies that further its larger effort to weaken the United States. Myopic business decisions capitalizing on cheap labor sourced from the PRC, rosy narratives promulgated by government officials in exchange for PRC special treatment, and social tensions the CCP exploits are all CCP tools that make any U.S. effort to excise dependence on the PRC difficult and politically delicate.
Former President Trump and administration officials spoke in a unified voice on the dangers posed by CCP infiltration and influence operations to show the American people the threat the CCP poses to every aspect of American life.4 For example, former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe warned the American public in an op-ed entitled “China Is National Security Threat No. 1” that “the [PRC] poses the greatest threat to America today, and the greatest threat to democracy and freedom world-wide since World War II.”5 These public statements and speeches were marked by strong action in the Trump Administration. However, the Oversight Committee’s investigation has revealed that too many of these efforts—especially transparent communication about the CCP threat—were not built upon by the Biden-Harris Administration.
While CCP infiltration and influence operations target every sector and community in America, much of the federal government under the Biden-Harris Administration has failed to understand, acknowledge, and strategically combat CCP political warfare. Not one federal agency in this government-wide investigation demonstrated a sufficient strategy to confront CCP unrestricted warfare. Of the twenty-five agencies the Committee surveyed in this investigation, one transparently acknowledged CCP infiltration operations, elucidated a strategy to combat a piece of the Party’s campaign, and engaged in outreach to the American people about it. Unfortunately, this single example—the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), seeking to defeat CCP-backed chemical and drug warfare that fuels the fentanyl crisis6—is hindered in its efforts to protect Americans due to the failure of the Biden-Harris Administration to adopt any government-wide strategy.
Published: Oct 24, 2024
Oversight Committee Releases Report Exposing the CCP’s Destructive Political Warfare and Influence Operations
https://oversight.house.gov/release/oversight-committee-releases-report-exposing-the-ccps-destructive-political-warfare-and-influence-operation/?utm
Staff report finds that the Biden-Harris Administration lacks a government-wide strategy to counter China’s tactics and provides recommendations to help federal agencies secure America
WASHINGTON—House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) released a staff report today titled “CCP Political Warfare: Federal Agencies Urgently Need a Government-Wide Strategy.” The report, which includes information obtained during the Committee’s government-wide investigation into 25 federal sectors, details how the Biden-Harris Administration is dangerously behind in implementing measures to combat the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) influence and infiltration campaign. The Oversight Committee conducted multiple hearings, held dozens of briefings, and found that most agencies’ solutions and policies either ignore, placate, or only weakly address the CCP’s efforts to influence and infiltrate the United States. To counter CCP political warfare, the report offers recommendations for federal agencies to use existing resources to defend America and critical U.S. industries.
“The House Oversight Committee has exposed the CCP’s political warfare and is working to ensure the federal government formulates a cohesive strategy to combat CCP threats and protect all Americans. The CCP is successfully infiltrating and influencing communities and critical sectors across this nation and the Biden-Harris Administration is asleep at the wheel. Today’s report details how federal agencies have failed to understand, acknowledge, or develop a plan to combat CCP political warfare and Americans are left to fend for themselves. It is past time for federal agencies to take this threat seriously and fulfill their responsibilities to the American people. Our report offers several solutions federal agencies can implement now with existing resources to address the CCP threat and protect the American people,” said Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.).
Below are some key findings from the report:
- The report exposes the CCP for what it is—a totalitarian force that enslaves its own people, surveils and harasses critics of the Party and people of Chinese descent around the world, poisons tens of thousands of Americans every year with fentanyl, and actively seeks to destroy America. It seeks the downfall of the United States because the CCP views the American way of life as a threat to the authoritarian grip it desperately seeks to maintain.
- The CCP has identified America as its main enemy—against which it has waged infiltration and influence operations for decades. Unlike the first Cold War, the adversary is already within, having entrenched itself within U.S. borders, institutions, businesses, universities, and cultural centers by capturing elites in influential circles.
- The report details what federal agencies, who work for the American people, are doing and failing to do to defend against CCP unrestricted warfare. While CCP infiltration and influence operations target every sector and community in America, much of the federal government under the Biden-Harris Administration has failed to understand, acknowledge, and strategically combat CCP political warfare.
- It is wholly unacceptable that federal agencies have failed to deter CCP unrestricted warfare, let alone to establish a cohesive government-wide strategy to do so, when the CCP has waged this war without weapons for decades.
- To assess how each agency is fulfilling its duties to the American people, the Committee has scored each agency on key metrics—including strategy, knowledge and expertise, transparency and outreach to the American people, and collaboration with relevant partners and stakeholders.
Below are some recommendations from the report:
- Federal agencies should use existing resources to defend America from CCP unrestricted warfare. A successful government-wide strategy must include four components: (1) acknowledgment of and transparent communication about CCP political warfare; (2) rejection of country agnostic and foreign malign influence-focused approaches and embracing of targeted strategies; (3) fostering the depth of knowledge needed to defeat unrestricted warfare; and (4) engaging the American people about the CCP threat and providing resources when appropriate that thwart CCP ambitions.
- Principled leaders who are willing to speak candidly about CCP infiltration of influential circles, communities, and businesses across the United States can turn the tide in America’s favor.
Read the report, including all key findings and recommendations, here.
- Access National Security News HERE.