CIA seeks more informants in China, Iran and North Korea

Top US spy agency wants to make it easier for people in Iran, China and North Korea to reach out with tips in a bid to add to its portfolio of domestic informants.

The CIA published a set of online instructions in Korean, Mandarin and Farsi on Wednesday detailing steps that potential tipsters can take to contact US intelligence officials without putting themselves in danger.

The instructions include ways to reach the CIA on its public website or the darknet, a part of the internet that protects the user’s identity. The CIA posted similar instructions in Russian two years ago following Moscow’s all-out invasion of Ukraine.

The interest is there, the agency claims. It’s about making people feel safe about being a Western source of info.

“People are trying to reach out to us from around the world and we are offering them instructions for how to do that safely,” the agency said in a statement. “Our efforts on this front have been successful in Russia, and we want to make sure individuals in other authoritarian regimes know that we’re open for business.”

The instructions, presented in text-only videos and infographics, include how to use a VPN to circumvent internet restrictions and surveillance, and the use of a device that can’t easily be traced back to the user. The CIA also urged any potential informants to use private web browsers and to delete their internet history to cover their tracks.

The messages in the three languages were posted on Telegram, YouTube, X, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Several of those platforms are blocked in China, Iran and North Korea but can still be accessed using a VPN.

Authoritarian leaders around the world have used the internet as a tool of mass surveillance and as a way to deliver propaganda and disinformation while blocking sites and views deemed unfavourable to the government.

Beijing, Moscow, Pyongyang and Tehran all block access to US platforms like Facebook, for example, and use web access to control what sources of information users can access.

VPNs and other tools offer ways around this censorship and surveillance, but that ability has made them a target. In its instructions to potential sources, the CIA warned its audience to be selective, as their well-being could depend on choosing the right program.

“Use a VPN provider not headquartered in Russia, Iran, or China, or any other country that is considered unfriendly to the United States,” the agency wrote in its instructions for Mandarin users.