Who Needs Spies When You Have Insurance Companies?

Imagine the cost to insure James Bond against all the destruction he leaves in his wake—torched cars in Istanbul, collapsed buildings in Venice, botched assassinations in Macau.

That’s why, in the real world, intelligence officers—whether they’re CIA field operatives, FBI investigators, or high-level national security officials—all carry professional liability insurance.

This type of coverage protects federal employees when they’re personally sued or investigated for actions taken in the line of duty. It covers legal defense costs, civil damages, property destruction costs, and maybe even wrongful deaths.

That’s a lot of risk for an insurance company to take on. So you can imagine that, in order to even assess the policy risk, an underwriter would need access to extremely sensitive information on their prospective customer.

This might include data like someone’s clearance level, field deployment history, clandestine status, and more. And in the event that an insurance company needs to pay out a claim, they would likely even need classified operational details in order to conduct their own investigation.

That’s an extraordinary amount of highly secretive intelligence being made available to a private company… and it would amount to a major score for a foreign adversary.

Yet somehow, no one in the US intelligence community noticed when “Wright USA”—a little-known insurance firm that specialized in liability coverage for the CIA and FBI—was quietly acquired by Fosun Group in 2015.

Who is Fosun Group? It’s a Chinese conglomerate with deep ties to the Communist Party. In fact, the money to buy Wright USA actually came from the CCP, funneled through four Chinese state-owned banks.

Cost of purchasing Wright USA? $1.2 billion.

Value of the intelligence to the CCP? Priceless.

Granted, the US intelligence community at the time was busy preparing their phony Steele Dossier and manufacturing one of the most ridiculous lies in the history of the US government.

But still, you’d think someone would have realized that the CCP was buying the keys to the castle.

It gets better.

An investigative journalist eventually exposed the deal about a year later; the Obama administration scrambled to pressure Fosun Group to sell Wright back to a US company— which they did.

But the damage had already been done at that point. Fosun had already downloaded ALL of Wright’s sensitive data… which meant that the CCP had essentially EVERY American intelligence operative’s personal information.

Then some other US company bought Wright back from Fosun… meaning that China essentially got all of that information FOR FREE. They might have even made a small profit.

This single episode is utterly pathetic. What’s even more pathetic is that it is not isolated.

Also in 2015, Chinese hackers penetrated the US government’s Office of Personnel Management.

They stole security clearance records, fingerprint data, and personal files of over 22 million current and former government employees. They had that access for months before anyone even noticed.

Then there was the 2020 SolarWinds attack, when hackers inserted malicious code into a widely used IT platform, allowing them to burrow deep into US government agencies, major corporations, and defense contractors.

And in December 2024, a top Chinese official reportedly admitted that Beijing was behind the Volt Typhoon cyberattacks, which targeted critical US infrastructure such as the power grid, water systems, and telecommunications.

Malware was discovered lying in wait—strategically positioned to trigger at the most damaging moment—and it would be naive to think China hasn’t planted more of these digital tripwires, ready to deploy at a moment’s notice.

Even as recently as this year, the email system of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)—which oversees the integrity of the US banking sector—was hacked.

Beyond cyberattacks and economic espionage, China also subtly and effectively attacks the US in other ways.

After the trade war kicked off this year, China hit back by launching a new app— DHgate, an e-commerce platform that sold knock-off merchandise, undercutting America’s top brands.

Chinese influencers flooded the app with a seductive new message: don’t pay $120 for name-brand yoga pants when you can get the same ones for $15 from DHgate.

Overnight, the app shot up to #2 on Apple’s App Store in the US, just behind another Chinese e-commerce juggernaut, Temu.

Viral videos—boosted by TikTok’s CCP-influenced algorithm—showed Western consumers how badly they were being ripped off by major US brands. China manufactures most of that stuff anyhow, so why not cut out the middleman?

The strategy was to erode trust in American companies, undermine public support for tariffs, and make China look like the people’s champion— offering affordable goods while your own government drives up the cost of living.

But that’s nothing compared to China’s attack on America’s children: TikTok has become ground zero for psychological and social manipulation.

While American teens are challenged with deadly trends like the Blackout Challenge, Skullbreaker Challenge, and the Benadryl Challenge, their Chinese counterparts on Douyin (TikTok’s China-only version) are being served up math problems and educational content from 12-year-old calculus prodigies.

Then there’s DeepSeek— China’s version of ChatGPT; it’s another weapon that can be used to manipulate thought, perception, and behavior under the guise of ‘helpful’ AI.

Just consider the kind of information that an American user might casually discuss with such a system— stresses, fear, anxieties. Medical problems. Financial information. Politics. Product recommendations.

All that information flows directly into a model controlled by a regime with a track record of weaponizing data.

Of course, China still runs classic espionage ops too—including old-school honeypots.

One operative, Christine Fang infiltrated US political circles, formed sexual relationships with government officials, and got remarkably close to Rep. Eric Swalwell (who sat on the House Intelligence Committee).

She helped fundraise for his campaign, even placed an intern in his office, then vanished when the FBI started poking around.

Speaking of money in politics, China has figured out that you don’t need to buy the presidency to break a democracy. Just funnel a few million into state and local races, and prop up the loudest, least capable idiots.

China’s campaign contributions have engineered increasingly an dysfunctional Congress that seems to become more divisive and incompetent with each session.

Then the American voter does the rest, reelecting these same clowns cycle after cycle thanks to sky-high incumbent advantage.

Let’s also not forget how Chinese firms have been quietly buying up US real estate, including land next to critical military bases. One nearly built a wind farm just miles from Laughlin Air Force Base in Texas, where American fighter pilots train.

You don’t make that move for agriculture. You make it for strategic positioning for surveillance. Or worse.

China is obviously a tremendous ongoing risk to the United States.

Critical infrastructure is vulnerable. The ideological development of younger generations is being shaped by foreign-controlled algorithms. Our political system is exposed to manipulation. Industrial-scale espionage continues in broad daylight.

And over and over again, America keeps getting caught with its pants down.

Source

Simon Black is an international investor, entrepreneur and permanent traveler. His daily letter is both educational and entertaining, and we suggest that those who want unbiased, actionable information about global opportunities sign up for Sovereign Man’s free, actionable newsletter at http://www.SovereignMan.com.

From Simon Black of SovereignMan.com

Source: https://www.schiffsovereign.com/trends/who-needs-spies-when-you-have-insurance-companies-153934/