CIA Releases Video To Recruit Spies In China Amid Xi’s Top Brass Purge

The CIA rolled out a new recruitment video Thursday aimed squarely at prying open cracks inside China’s military establishment – already as a Xi CCP purge of top military officials has been underway, according to Reuters. This latest video features a “disillusioned mid-level Chinese military officer” pitching other officers in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on the idea of quietly switching sides and feeding US intelligence – which seems a bit on the nose.

Reuters described the release as the “latest U.S. step in a campaign to ramp up human intelligence gathering on Washington’s strategic rival” – though clearly there’s a psychological operations element to it, given the obviously ‘public’ nature of a video pushed directly by the CIA.

In the video, the fictional PLA officer declares: “Anyone with leadership qualities is bound to be subject to suspicion and ruthlessly eliminated” – an unmistakable nod to Beijing’s ongoing purge of senior military brass.

The new video follows a similar CIA campaign launched last year targeting senior Chinese Communist Party officials, complete with detailed Mandarin-language instructions on how to securely contact US intelligence.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe has boasted that those earlier efforts penetrated China’s censorship firewall and offered officials an “opportunity to work toward a brighter future together.”

“Our past videos reached millions of people and inspired new sources,” an anonymous CIA official told Reuters. One wonders, given the mass nature of the ‘outreach’, how many of these ‘new sources’ might actually be double agents dangled as bait by Chinese intelligence.

According to some of the dialogue featured in this new video release (machine translated):

“I pledged loyalty to the motherland and China’s national security. But the leadership is corrupt. I once thought our leaders cared for the people, but they only pursue their own interests. They abuse power for personal wealth, sacrificing the nation.

My conscience can no longer bear it. I must act – for China, for justice. I contacted the CIA. They protected me and provided safety. Now I’m free to speak the truth. If you have info on high-level Chinese leaders, contact us. We’ll protect you.”

Earlier this week, Chinese President Xi Jinping belatedly acknowledged in public the sweeping crackdown, calling the past year “unusual and extraordinary” and claiming the military had “undergone revolutionary tempering in the fight against corruption.”

Late last month, China’s most senior military officer – Gen. Zhang Youxia – who is second only to Xi Jinping, was abruptly put under investigation over alleged ”grave violations of discipline and the law.” He had served as vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, the Communist Party body that controls the armed forces, and the news was a major shock as he was widely regarded as President Xi’s closest ally within the military.

Another member of the commission, Gen. Liu Zhenli, was also been placed under investigation, according to the Defense Ministry on the same day. He’s in charge of the PLA military’s Joint Staff Department. There were rumors of leaking nuclear secrets and highly classified defense tech, but these reports appeared based in speculation.

Looming heavy over Washington is Beijing’s widely reported dismantling of the CIA spy network in China more than a decade ago. Authorities killed or imprisoned over a dozen CIA assets beginning in 2010 as a result.

China warns CIA over recruitment video targeting Chinese troops

China will take “all necessary measures” to counter foreign spying, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said after the CIA posted a Chinese-language recruitment video aimed at Chinese military personnel.

The… pic.twitter.com/WOSsE9COGg

— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) February 13, 2026

The NY Times reported of the internal US intelligence confusion and deliberations in the aftermath: “Some were convinced that a mole within the CIA had betrayed the United States. Others believed that the Chinese had hacked the covert system the CIA used to communicate with its foreign sources.”