FBI: 1,000 probes into Chinese intellection property theft

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has nearly 1,000 investigations open into attempted intellectual property theft, nearly all of them involving Chinese, FBI director Christopher Wray said Tuesday.

"There is no country that poses a more severe counterintelligence threat to this country right now than China... and I don't say it lightly," Wray told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"We have as we speak probably about a thousand-plus investigations all across the country involving attempted theft of US intellectual property, whether it's economic espionage or counter proliferation, almost all leading back to China," he said.

"It is a threat that is deep and diverse and wide and vexing.... Make no mistake that this is a high priority for all of us," Wray added.

Arrests of people involved in Chinese operations to steal US corporate secrets, whether for corporate reasons or to obtain defense secrets, have risen sharply in recent years.

Washington says the problem has been exacerbated by Beijing's
Wray said the Chinese government is using "not just government officials, but private sector entities, non-traditional collectors, etc, to steal their way up the economic ladder at our expense."