In this interview, I spoke with former senior FBI Counterintelligence Agent Mike Feinberg. He worked on some of the country’s most high profile cases on China, from investigating tech giant Huawei to overseeing a probe into Fengyun Shi, a Chinese student convicted of using aerial photography at a military installation to conduct espionage — the first of such charges in the United States.
But after 15 years in the bureau, Mike was driven to resign just weeks ago. Deputy Director Dan Bongino learned that he had kept up a friendship with Peter Strzok, an FBI official who was fired in 2018 for text messages that criticized then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. He was informed he would be demoted, when he was set to be promoted.
Today, Mike tells me that the FBI is “slowly chipping away” at its ability to counter China because of ideological purges, downsizing, and a priority on deportations, which pull counterintelligence agents off of their jobs.
He says that FBI Director Kash Patel does not have a strong inclination to focus on counterintelligence. He is concerned that investigations on China may be derailed if they are seen as obstacles to a trade agreement — something that he says was “regularly discussed” when he was on the inside. And he estimates that about 10 years will be required for the FBI to regain the expertise it has lost.
“Nothing is going to blow up because of a counterintelligence failure the way it will because of a counterterrorism failure,” he said. “But this is what wars are won and lost on.”
