Thread: After 20 years of anti-terror work, CIA gets back to spycraft basics in shift to Chin

Washington (CNN)The CIA is overhauling how it trains and manages its network of spies as part of a broader effort to transition away from 20 years of counterterrorism wars and focus more closely on adversaries like China and Russia, multiple sources familiar with the move tell CNN.


After two decades of intense paramilitary action against Islamist terror groups, some former officers and intelligence overseers say the CIA needs to get back to the kind of traditional, quiet tradecraft needed to collect intelligence against complex nation-states — in particular China, which senior officials have openly acknowledged presents the agency with its biggest challenge.


In theory, the change will allow the CIA to better staff remote outposts seen as critical to the China mission — places like west Africa, for example, that have a lot of Chinese infrastructure investment but are seen as too far away from the action to be a desirable assignment, sources said.


It will also help ensure that the agency is developing officers with the appropriate expertise over the long term. Beyond just hiring more Mandarin speakers and investing in technology, the move cuts to the very heart of the CIA: its human intelligence collectors.

MORE After 20 years of anti-terror work, CIA gets back to spycraft basics in pivot to China - CNNPolitics

Old news but interesting.

CIA reports dozens of informants arrested or killed

With a polite little addendum asking for more money.