WASHINGTON – The FBI has successfully dismantled numerous criminal networks involved in transnational repression operating on American soil, Director Kash Patel revealed recently.
These nefarious groups, acting on behalf of hostile foreign governments, seek to undermine American sovereignty and terrorize dissidents within our borders. As Patel highlighted in an interview with Epoch TV’s “American Thought Leaders” on August 8, these operatives are "infiltrating America through public spaces, the internet, social media platforms," forcing the FBI to actively trace and shut down their insidious networks.
The brazenness of these foreign powers necessitates a robust response. In January 2025, the FBI’s Philadelphia field office established a groundbreaking task force, the first of its kind, specifically dedicated to confronting this escalating threat.
Transnational repression, as defined by the FBI, encompasses foreign government attempts to "intimidate, silence, coerce, harass, or harm" members of their diaspora living freely in the United States. This includes tactics as disturbing as stalking, sophisticated cyberhacking, physical assault, attempted kidnapping, and even threats against victims’ family members and friends. The targets are often brave political and human rights activists, journalists, and members of religious or ethnic minority groups who dared to escape oppressive regimes.
The gravity of the situation was underscored in September 2025, when Patel unequivocally named Communist China as the single most significant national security threat facing the United States.
The Philadelphia task force, a powerful coalition of 22 federal, state, local, and community partner agencies – including local police and even campus departments – is on the front lines, training law enforcement to identify these threats, improving responses to suspected cases, and raising critical public awareness. In just over a year of operations, this task force has already identified more than 50 victims of this shadowy warfare.
Patel articulated the FBI’s clear objective: "a disruption, a dismantlement, or a prosecution." He noted that these hostile actors are not always based in the countries one might expect, requiring dynamic strategies. "When we can’t legally get to them, or we can’t get enough evidence to meet the threshold for prosecution, we work with our partners again, at places like Treasury and elsewhere, to shut off their access to the international banking system, which they need to conduct their criminal activity," Patel explained.
He emphasized that sanctions from the State and Treasury Departments are incredibly potent. "And when you do that, it’s as effective as putting handcuffs on them, essentially, because they can’t do it anymore. That’s a win," Patel declared, highlighting a common-sense approach to starve these networks of their illicit funding.
Actions by Communist China
The insidious reach of Communist China into American life is no secret. Just last March, the State Department sanctioned six Beijing and Hong Kong officials for their role in transnational repression on U.S. soil and the systematic erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy. Among those sanctioned was Dong Jingwei, the former vice minister of China’s Ministry of State Security, Beijing's premier espionage agency. This ministry is a central player in targeting Chinese dissidents and orchestrating covert influence operations globally, including right here in the United States.
In 2023, 34 officers from this same ministry were charged in New York for their alleged involvement in extensive transnational repression schemes. These schemes included the creation of thousands of fake online personas on social media platforms, all designed to target Chinese democracy activists and brave critics of the Chinese Communist Party.
The long arm of Beijing has led to convictions on American soil. In early 2025, two Chinese nationals and a retired New York Police Department sergeant, turned private investigator, received sentences ranging from 16 months to two years. Their crime? Participating in a Beijing-directed campaign to coerce a former Chinese official residing in New Jersey into returning to China.
Adding to this damning record, a Chinese American accused of operating a clandestine Chinese police station in New York City was convicted in May of acting as an illegal foreign agent for China. He was also rightly convicted of obstructing justice by deleting WeChat messages, attempting to cover up his communications with his handlers in China’s Ministry of Public Security. The Congressional-Executive Commission on China, in a damning report published in June, confirmed what many Americans already instinctively knew: what were once "scattered incidents" of China’s transnational repression have metastasized into a "growing global challenge."
Ultimately, as Director Patel asserts, the true victory is unequivocal: "Ultimately, for me, the prize is actually putting handcuffs on them." This relentless pursuit of justice against foreign aggressors on American land is not just about law enforcement; it is about defending the fundamental principles of freedom, national sovereignty, and the safety of every American citizen from those who seek to undermine our republic. The America First movement demands nothing less than unwavering vigilance against such threats to our homeland.
