JRL NEWSWATCH: “CIA Nominee Burns Promises Spying Focus on China, Seeing ‘Adversarial, Predatory’ Regime” – Wall Street Journal/ Warren P. Strobel
“Veteran diplomat pledges to deliver bad news to policy makers, after senators note tumult of Trump years.”
“[The nominee] pick[ed] to … lead the Central Intelligence Agency told lawmakers he would intensify the spy agency’s focus on China, calling ‘an adversarial, predatory Chinese leadership’ the U.S.’s ‘biggest geopolitical test.’ … William J. Burns said …. ‘For CIA, that will mean intensified focus and urgency—continually strengthening its already impressive cadre of China specialists, expanding its language skills, aligning personnel and resource allocation for the long haul’ ….
A congressional review last year found that the CIA and other intelligence agencies have been too slow to adapt to China’s economic, military and technological challenge, and remain overly focused on existing threats such as terrorism and adversaries’ conventional military assets. …”