PrairiePundit

 Daily Signal: China may have stolen data from nearly every American, including President Donald Trump , a yearslong joint investigation by multiple intelligence agencies has concluded. The group “Salt Typhoon,” which has ties to the Chinese Communist Party, reportedly hacked phones Trump and Vice President JD Vance used last year during the presidential campaign. The investigation has uncovered information related to a yearlong, elaborate cyberhack conducted by entities with ties to the CCP. The hack is reported to have targeted more than 80 countries. “ People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-sponsored cyberthreat actors are targeting networks globally, including, but not limited to, telecommunications, government, transportation, lodging, and military infrastructure networks,” according to a joint statement issue by the investigators last week. Numerous nations, including the U.S., Canada, Finland, Germany, and Japan signed onto the statement, which is intended to shed ligh...

 Business Insider: A suspected Chinese spy balloon is operating near a sprawling base that houses 150 Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles. The large and bright unidentified object was seen first flying over Alaska's Aleutian Islands and through Canada before appearing over the city of Billings, Montana. A senior US defense official told reporters on Thursday there was "very high confidence" the balloon was Chinese and that it was flying over sensitive sites to collect information. China later admitted that the balloon belonged to it , but said it was a weather balloon blown off course, and not meant for spying. Though US officials did not name any potential target sites, or give a precise flight path, Montana is notable for being home to Malmstrom Air Force Base, which houses nuclear missiles. Montana Senator Steve Daines said he was concerned by the risk to the US nuclear arsenal. In a letter to the Department of Defense on Thursday, Daines requested a ...

 Washington Examiner: Chinese General Secretary  Xi Jinping’s   heavy-handed  rule is leading Chinese officials “unhappy with the trajectory” of their country to offer themselves as informants, an  Australian  spy chief has suggested. “There's a monoculture that's being enforced,” Australian Secret Intelligence Service Director-General Paul Symon said on Tuesday during an event at the Lowy Institute, a Sydney-based think tank. “We don't yet know exactly how that will play out, but what we're seeing is more and more signs of officials, individuals, interested in a relationship.” That’s an optimistic signal for U.S. and  allied intelligence agencies  tasked with scrutinizing the regime after years of Western setbacks and high-profile Chinese Communist espionage successes. China has a reputation as one of the most difficult regimes for Western agencies to penetrate, but Beijing’s emergence as a truculent global heavyweight has put pressure on Austral...

Bill Gertz: Counterintelligence agents from the FBI and Pentagon are pursuing a suspected foreign agent posing as a Navy officer who offered fraudulent contracts to defense contractors in a bid to obtain sensitive and embargoed American technology. The FBI on Wednesday sent a security alert about the scam uncovered recently by a contractor in Massachusetts to contractors engaged in secret defense work. An FBI counterintelligence agent stated in the alert that the contractor reported “an individual posing as U.S. Navy officer” was issuing fake Navy contracts for computer and telecommunications equipment. ... There is more. This appears to be a variation on a scam used by China in the past.  The Chinese are the most likely suspects, but Russia and Iran are also attempting to acquire US secrets.

Reuters: Iran's intelligence minister said Iran had identified 100 people he described as U.S. and Israeli agents and said some were arrested trying to leave Iran to attend "spying" courses abroad, state TV reported on Thursday. Iran's highest authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has previously warned about a "velvet revolution" -- a supposed U.S. plot to use intellectuals and others inside the country to bring about "regime change." Intelligence Minister Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei was quoted by state television as saying Iran had "identified 100 American and Israeli spies at the Iranian border. They were planning to obtain military and political information within Iran." He did not give any nationalities and it was not clear to which border point he referred, but several Iranian activists and journalists in recent weeks have been detained or barred from leaving Iran at airports on the way to courses abroad. "We were abl...