CIA director says China is #1 priority, poses biggest challenge from adversary in US history

CIA Director John Ratcliffe declared in an internal memo that China is the top priority for his agency warning that no adversary in the history of our Nation has presented a more formidable challenge or a more capable strategic competitor than the Chinese Communist Party The internal CIA memo directed to the agency s rank and file was provided to Fox News by a senior CIA official on Thursday For CIA to continue successfully defending our Nation we will build upon our strong foundation and pursue with laser-like focus the near-term priorities for CIA that our President and our country demand China sits at the very top of that list Ratcliffe wrote No adversary in the history of our Nation has presented a more formidable challenge or a more capable strategic competitor than the Chinese Communist Party he continued It is intent on dominating the world economically militarily and technologically and it is aggressively trying to out-compete America in every corner of the globe UNITED KINGDOM URGED TO ALIGN WITH TRUMP ON CHINA OR LOSE FAVORED STATUS IN WASHINGTON Ratcliffe mentioned the CIA must continue to respond to the threats China poses with urgency creativity and grit I ve emboldened CIA s leadership band to take on more risks smartly and to aggressively seek out short- and long-term opportunities that give the United States the advantage it requirements to keep China in our rear-view window It won t be easy but I pledge to lead the charge in helping us do just that he added CHINA RAMPS UP MILITARY REHEARSALS AROUND TAIWAN OUTSTRIPS US IN AIR MARITIME SPACE Ratcliffe noted Apparatus is another top priority one that is in various approaches intertwined with the threat posed by the CCP Emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and quantum computing will define the future of national safeguard and geopolitical power he wrote in the memo Concurrently our adversaries China Russia and Iran seek to gain footholds in countries in our near-abroad We must continue to push back against these efforts Ratcliffe also declared To best position CIA in addressing this priority we are taking a close look at how we can create a unified effort across the range of agenda objectives in this region The American people deserve our best