Washington: The FBI said on Wednesday that China and Iran are becoming more blatant in their efforts to suppress dissidents on US territory and affect US policy.
FBI counterintelligence officers asked victims to come forward during a press conference on transnational repression, claiming the agency is monitoring a rising trend of foreign authoritarian governments breaking US laws to frighten certain communities.
According to the authorities, governments have occasionally turned to hiring private investigators to spy on opposition figures, and federal prosecutors have brought many cases involving this practice.
“A lot of these are new tactics and lines that are being crossed that we have not seen China and Iran do on US soil in previous investigations,” one FBI counterintelligence official said. He added that the FBI hoped to raise awareness of such trends and alert the private investigator sector and state and local law enforcement.
Officials said the goals of transnational repression schemes are multifaceted, and at times also aim to influence US policy decisions through “malign influence tactics.”
“We’ve really seen an inflection point in the tactics and tools, and the level of risk and the level of threat that have changed over the past few years,” another FBI counterintelligence official said.
The call with reporters on Wednesday came just two days after federal agents arrested two New York residents for allegedly operating a Chinese “secret police station” in Manhattan’s Chinatown district, in what prosecutors said is part of a broader US government crackdown on Beijing’s alleged targeting of dissidents.
Safeguard Defenders, a Europe-based human rights organization, has published reports in recent months revealing the presence of dozens of Chinese police “service stations” in major cities around the world, including in New York and Los Angeles.
FBI officials declined to comment on the New York case or speak about any other open investigations.
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