Assessing the FBI’s pre-1979 counterintelligence operations against China

Beginning in 1949, the Federal Bureau of Investigation sought tothwart the intelligence operations of the People’s Republic of China(PRC) against the United States. The lack of US – PRC diplomaticrelations until 1979 and absence of diplomatic establishmentsmeant that counterintelligence operations against China required adeparture from the FBI’s traditional approach to counterintelligence.Instead, the Bureau had to place a greater emphasis on operationswhich focused on movements of individuals and communicationsinto and out of the United States. The FBI further expanded thereach of its counterintelligence operations against China via theBureau’s Legal Attaches.