In a hard-hitting Dec. 15 editorial, China’s state-owned Global Times daily identifies the politicization of the U.S. intelligence agencies over the last three decades, and their instrument, the surveillance state, as a major threat to both U.S. relations with most of the world (China included) and to the United States itself. Media-influenced American patriots who think of China as a big enemy, might just realize that they and China have a common enemy by reading the full editorial.
The editors keyed off the discussion inside and outside the U.S. of Section 702 of the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act provoked by its looming Dec. 31 expiration. (Congress did extend Sec. 702 by four months that same day.) Sec. 702 is the loophole intelligence agencies use to carry out illegal surveillance of Americans and the rest of the world, too. They caution that U.S. surveillance of “the entire world in pursuit of hegemony,” ally and “rival” alike, reflects its own “insecurity” and decline, and is leading “the U.S. to greater isolation in the world.”
Global Times is not spouting off against some mythical, innate U.S. imperialism, but points to the turn which occurred after the Cold War ended: “Over the past three decades, the U.S. intelligence agencies have largely deviated from the professional ethics of pursuing accuracy and truthfulness, embarking on a dangerous path of politicization of intelligence.” The result: U.S. foreign and security policies have gone down “a misguided and even failed direction,” with the intelligence agencies playing a bigger role than the State Department in setting U.S. foreign policy.
“The intelligence agencies in the U.S. government have a notorious reputation, causing harm to U.S. foreign decision-making and playing a significant role in making the U.S. a source of global chaos,” the editors write. But, they add, those agencies are also destroying the best of the United States itself:
“The abuse of surveillance by U.S. intelligence agencies is also a destructive force within the country. They completely disregard the core values that the U.S. claims to uphold, such as individual freedom and respect for privacy, making it even more difficult for the already chaotic American society to be united. The active operations of private U.S. companies domestically and internationally, the free and innovative atmosphere of its universities in conducting research and education, and the vibrant momentum of its diverse culture, which are core elements showcasing the uniqueness of American culture and American identity standards, are all being damaged to varying degrees due to the abuse of power by its intelligence agencies and the series of security generalizations.”
