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No worries, China now has a friend in the White House
China removed as top priority for spiesIntelligence chiefs object By Bill Gertz The White House National Security Council recently directed U.S. spy agencies to lower the priority placed on intelligence collection for China, amid opposition to the policy change from senior intelligence leaders who feared it would hamper efforts to obtain secrets about Beijing 's military and its cyber-attacks. The downgrading of intelligence gathering on China was challenged by Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair and CIA Director Leon E. Panetta after it was first proposed in interagency memorandums in October, current and former intelligence officials said. The decision downgrades China from "Priority 1" status, alongside Iran and North Korea , to "Priority 2," which covers specific events such as the humanitarian crisis after the Haitian earthquake or tensions between India and Pakistan . The National Security Council staff, in response, pressed ahead with the change and sought to assure Mr. Blair and other intelligence chiefs that the change would not affect the allocation of resources for spying on China or the urgency of focusing on Chinese spying targets, the officials told The Washington Times. Paging Senator-Elect Brown, Senator Brown, your next issue is waiting at the red courtesy telephone ... White House National Security Council officials declined to comment. Posted by: Besoeker 2010-01-20 |
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