The US Director of National Intelligence, John Ratcliff, in an article in the Wall Street Journal on December 3 identifying China as the No: 1 threat and a once-in-a-generation challenge, said he had shifted resources inside the $85 billion annual intelligence budget to increase the focus on China. He also disclosed that he had briefed the House and Senate Intelligence committees that China is targeting members of Congress with six times the frequency of Russia and 12 times the frequency of Iran. He said The US government estimates that China’s intellectual-property theft costs America as much as $500 billion a year, or between $4,000 and $6,000 per US household. Separately at the Aspen Institute Cyber Summit on December 2, William Evanina, the head of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, said that the US has seen evidence of China directing more of its influence operations toward the incoming Biden administration.
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