The heads of the United States and UK intelligence agencies made a rare appearance together on Sept. 7, touting the joint efforts of the CIA and MI6 to counter the geopolitical ambitions of Russia and China, along with other challengers on the world stage.
Discussing their joint efforts further in an interview with the Financial Times on Saturday, Burns said he and his British counterpart began taking steps in the fall of 2021 to declassify some of their intelligence assessments that a Russian invasion of Ukraine was imminent. This effort, Burns said, was meant to shape international opinion against the Russian war effort and garner support for Ukraine at a time when other international observers doubted Russia would invade.
“The two of us together employed, at the direction of our political leaders, a kind of novel approach to declassify some of our secrets in that period as a way of denying [Russian President Vladimir] Putin the false narratives that I had watched him over so many years employ in the past, and to expose the reality that this was naked aggression on the part of Russia,” Burns said.
The intelligence directors also touted the Ukrainian counter-incursion into Russian territory last month in the Kursk region. Burns called the Ukrainian operation a “significant tactical achievement” as well as a boost to Ukrainian morale.
Likewise, Moore said the incursion “really brought the war home to ordinary Russians.”
Burns and Moore said their agencies have been working beyond the war in Ukraine to counter other Russian intelligence operations, including “lies and disinformation designed to drive wedges between us.”
This week, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced indictments charging two Russian nationals with attempting to recruit U.S. political commentators to spread messages favored by the Russian government.
Counter-CCP Efforts Growing
In their op-ed for the Financial Times, Burns and Moore described China under the control of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as “the principal intelligence and geopolitical challenge of the 21st century.”In turn, they said they’ve steered their respective agencies to address the growing threat.
“We have, in the last three years, tripled the size of our budget devoted to the China challenge. It represents about 20 percent of our overall budget now,” Burns told the Financial Times on Saturday.
Moore said CCP leader Xi Jinping “has a very tight control over his political system.”
“He has an ambitious agenda, both at home and also overseas, and that’s why we devote so much effort to understanding China, because it is such a hugely important actor on the international stage,” the MI6 director said.
While the CCP poses a geopolitical challenge to the United States and the United Kingdom, Moore said it’s also important that Western officials engage with their Chinese counterparts.
Burns and Moore both highlighted their efforts to address the growing partnership between Russia and China and to dissuade China from supplying military assistance to aid the Russian war effort in Ukraine.
For the time being, Burns said neither he nor his British counterpart have seen direct evidence that China is supplying weapons to Russia.
Moore said the Chinese support for the Russian war effort, thus far, has materialized in the form of “dual use” materials, whereas Iran and North Korea have supplied weapons to assist Russia’s war.
Moore characterized the U.S.–UK relationship, and the relationships the United States and United Kingdom have with other countries across Europe, as one of shared values.
He said the partnerships forming among Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran exist on a “rather darker, more pragmatic basis.”
Gaza Cease-Fire
Beyond the joint efforts to counter Russia and adjust to the growing challenges posed by the CCP, Burns has also focused on the ongoing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.The CIA director said a cease-fire deal is 90 percent finished, but cautioned there’s no guarantee of success.
President Joe Biden announced a three-phase framework for an eventual cease-fire at the end of May.
The cease-fire talks hit setbacks in July after Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in a targeted blast while visiting Iran. The Iranian government blamed Israel for the killing and threatened retaliation. Hezbollah likewise threatened to expand a cross-border skirmish along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon into a wider regional conflict.
The United States, Egypt, and Qatar made efforts to mediate more cease-fire talks in mid-August, but Hamas negotiators skipped the talks, citing concerns that Israeli negotiators were changing the terms.
Recent cease-fire talks have focused on if and when Israeli forces will withdraw from the so-called Philadelphi Corridor, a strip of land running north to south along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has signaled he intends to maintain control over the corridor for some time, to prevent it from becoming an avenue to resupply and rearm Hamas.
The cease-fire negotiations hit further setbacks after Israeli forces recovered the remains of six hostages in the Gaza Strip last week, whom they concluded had been killed by Hamas shortly before Israeli troops could reach them.
The hostage killings have sparked protests within Israel, with hostage families and activists urging Netanyahu to accept a deal and secure the release of around 100 people still being held by Hamas. Netanyahu has rebuffed this internal pressure and said making new concessions now would only embolden Hamas to kill more of the hostages.
Speaking with Fox News on Sept. 5, Netanyahu said the notion that a cease-fire deal is 90 percent complete is “exactly inaccurate.”
Netanyahu said Hamas has “consistently said no” to every cease-fire proposal they’ve seen.
Burns said new language is in the works to finalize the cease-fire agreement.
“We will make this more detailed proposal, I hope, in the next several days, and then we'll see,” Burns said.
