Finally, DIA's China Directive

On November 29, 2022, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) announced  the creation of a “China mission group”, which would reach operational capacity in early 2023. Its spokesman said: “We created a box and called it China. It shows our long-term commitment to U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and the potential fight against China.” It’s about time!

In 1949, when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) took over, no special group dedicated to studying China was set up. None was established after the 1989 Tienanmen Square protests when the CCP’s government massacred an estimated 10,000 student protesters. No China “mission group” was set up in the year 2000, when the Chinese unilaterally abrogated the 1997 treaty with the U.K. that guaranteed Hong Kong’s sovereignty for 50 years. And no study group was formed when the Chinese illegally took over Hong Kong in 2020.

Establishing the “China mission group” now complements the Defense Department publication of the 2022 National Security Strategy, which identifies China “as the only competitor with the intent and, increasingly, the capacity to reshape the international order”.  The DIA has de-emphasized radical Islamist terror organizations, such as Al Qaeda and ISIS, although they acknowledge that the agency is still “on the front lines, actively supporting military operations against threats from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), al-Qa‘ida, and the Taliban,” which continue to grow and threaten the U.S. and its allies.

To further improve the effectiveness of this new Indo-Pacific and China strategy, we at Save the West offer a few suggestions:

1. The new “Chinese box” should include all of China’s allies and enablers.
2. The “China mission group” should study the best methods of warfare, including physical, cultural, economic, financial, legal, and cyber/space to use against China.
3. This group should also monitor China’s cooperation and coordination with other totalitarian regimes, which we define as “Red,” such as Russia, North Korea, Venezuela, and Cuba.
4. The Defense Department (DoD) should set up three additional “mission groups”: One for the radical Islamist terrorists, which we define as “Green,” to include Islamist countries such as Iran, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. The second group, which we describe as “Blue,” applied to international organizations such as the UN, the World Economic Forum, the World Health Organization, and other globalist groups. The third group, made of international drug cartels and transnational organized crime, includes elements of the three previous groups and is therefore described as “Brown.” All these groups should be studied and monitored by all U.S. intelligence agencies, not only the DoD.
5. To succeed in these missions, U.S. intelligence agencies should be rigorously vetted to eliminate foreign penetration and influence.
6. All of the “mission groups” that would monitor the Reds, the Greens, the Blues, and the “Browns” must report to a central command team of the agencies involved to assess the working inter-relationships between each enemy or frenemy.

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The U.S. Defense agencies are off to a good start, although 73 years late. Let’s hope they can catch up!

Threat Analyst Ken Abramowitz is author of The Multifront War
Editor: Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, President, American Center for Democracy (ACD)