The National Counterintelligence and Security Center warned on Tuesday that China’s intelligence services were using deceptive efforts to recruit current and former U.S. government employees.
The center, along with the F.B.I. and the Pentagon’s counterintelligence service, said in an advisory that foreign intelligence agencies were posing as consulting firms, corporate think tanks and other organizations to recruit former U.S. officials.
The American government has long said that China uses social networks to secretly recruit people. But former U.S. officials say China now sees an opportunity as the Trump administration shuts down agencies, fires probationary employees and pushes out people who had worked on diversity issues.
The warning advised former officials who have security clearances of their “legal obligation to protect classified data” even after they leave the government. It added that China and other foreign countries were targeting a variety of former officials.
Postings on the social media platform Bluesky targeted researchers dismissed by the National Institutes of Health, offering them a chance to “pursue career development” in Shenzhen, China.
Former officials said other outreach from foreign intelligence services has targeted agents let go from the F.B.I. and military officers who have retired.
“Current and former federal employees should beware of these virtual approaches and understand the potential consequences of engaging,” the counterintelligence center said.
Chinese intelligence services often begin recruitment efforts by offering a small fee for an innocuous research paper. Over time, the requests push for more sensitive material.
The center advised former officials, particularly people with security clearances, to be careful about what they post concerning their government work.
Red flags of the recruiting efforts include offers of disproportionately high salaries and flexible work conditions, the center said. Recruiters can also be “overly responsive” to messages from a former government official and give a strange amount of praise.
Last month, CNN reported that China and Russia had directed their intelligence services to ramp up recruiting of U.S. federal employees working on national security issues, including targeting people who could be fired.
Former officials have said that workers forced out of government jobs can be vulnerable — desperate for work and angry at the government — and could let down their guard. While some approaches, like the ones posted on Bluesky, were obviously of Chinese origin, others may be better disguised, appearing to come from American companies, former officials said.
While intelligence and military officials are trained to recognize such efforts by foreign intelligence services, government researchers do not routinely receive the same level of counterintelligence training.
The intelligence agencies have not cut as deeply as some departments, like the U.S. Agency for International Development, but the C.I.A. has fired about 80 probationary employees. The National Security Agency and other intelligence agencies have also fired workers.
