China’s MSS Emerges as the World’s Largest Spy Network, U.S. Media Reports

 

In a shocking exposé, China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) has been hailed by U.S. media as the world's greatest and most extensive spy network, even surpassing the CIA, MI5, and Mossad in size and scope. A recent May 18, 2025, broadcast on 60 Minutes spotlighted this shadowy organization, describing its worldwide espionage activities in great detail and sounding warning bells at its expanding clout. With an estimated 800,000 staff—well beyond the KGB at its height—the MSS now is a powerful force under President Xi Jinping's command, combining old-school spycraft with new-school cyber warfare to fight enemies and shape narratives globally.

A New Era of Espionage

Established in 1983, the MSS has long existed in secret, acting as China's main civilian intelligence and security agency. Its mission is expansive: overseas intelligence, counterintelligence, and protecting the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) dominance. But in the era of Xi Jinping, who has made national security a top priority since coming to office in 2012, the MSS has changed. No longer happy to be behind the scenes, the agency has moved into the spotlight, opening up social media campaigns, propaganda films, and even comic books to mobilize Chinese citizens against supposed foreign threats. A 2024 video shared on WeChat, China's biggest social media platform, puffed that the MSS "perceives things before they occur" and "combats evil," a clear indication of its intent to project force both at home and abroad.

The 60 Minutes piece showed the MSS's twofold concentration: dominating China's own citizens—its number one priority—and attacking the United States as its second-largest foe. Jim Lewis, a former U.S. diplomat with over 30 years of experience dealing with Chinese intelligence, described the MSS’s operations as “the biggest espionage operation against the U.S. in its history.” Unlike Western intelligence agencies, which are subject to legal oversight, the MSS operates with unchecked authority, often fusing state and commercial interests in ways that blur the lines between espionage and business.

Global Reach, Local Control

The MSS's influence is breathtaking. It uses a "whole of society" strategy, tapping into Chinese businesses, students, and diaspora communities to collect intelligence. In the United States, the agency has been accused of penetrating college campuses, tracking Chinese nationals using apps such as WeChat, and recruiting spies with old tricks such as money, sex, and coercion. In 2021, Yanjun Xu, an MSS officer, was convicted of economic espionage for trying to swipe trade secrets from U.S. companies—the first Chinese intelligence official extradited to the United States to stand trial. In 2025, a Brooklyn private investigator was sentenced to 18 months in prison for serving as an unauthorized agent of the MSS, with the agency's attempt to muzzle dissidents outside China being brought to the fore.

In Europe, the MSS has been as active. In 2019, 250 MSS spies were estimated to be working in Brussels alone, according to a report. In 2023, an investigation found that a Belgian senator had taken bribes from the MSS in order to sway EU talks. The agency's cyber activities are as widespread, with U.S. intelligence agencies naming China as the most tenacious cyber threat, responsible for invasions such as the 2021 Microsoft Exchange hack that affected more than 100,000 servers globally.

A Domestic Iron Grip

In the home, the MSS is at the heart of Xi Jinping's absolute control vision. The agency has been key to building China's surveillance state, employing technologies such as facial recognition and geolocation to track down citizens. It also monitors Chinese dissidents overseas, frequently threatening them into silence. Anna Kwok, a Hong Kong activist living in the U.S., said on 60 Minutes that she receives daily threats of kidnapping and has a $130,000 price put on her head by the Hong Kong government, with which the MSS is close. "You may be able to leave China, but you can never escape their rule," she said, a chilling attestation to the agency's reach.

The MSS's home-based orientation isn't merely control—it's survival. Xi Jinping is said to view his own nation as the biggest threat to the stability of the CCP, fearing another Soviet Union collapse. This paranoia has compelled the MSS to double its efforts on surveillance, both domestically and internationally, to make sure that any hint of dissent is quickly extinguished.

A Silent War on the West

What distinguishes the MSS from its Western peers is how organically it integrates with China's wider geopolitical agenda. The agency isn't merely stealing secrets—it shapes public opinion, directs policy, and achieves economic benefits for Chinese businesses. In Africa, Chinese firms associated with the MSS have sold surveillance technology, allowing authoritarian governments to track their citizens. In America, the MSS has been accused of influencing public opinion by using secret agents and aiming at strategic industries such as tech and defense.

Critics argue that the West has been slow to respond, distracted by other global crises while China’s intelligence machine grew unchecked. The MSS’s operations, from hacking government databases to bribing foreign officials, have given China a strategic edge, often at the expense of democratic values like free speech and privacy. As Jim Lewis warned, “When they mistreat their own citizens, you’re next.”

The Road Ahead

The ascension of the MSS represents a new era in international espionage—one in which state, commerce, and intelligence converge ever more. To counter this threat for America and her allies, however, will take more than classical spycraft. It will take confrontation with China's access to academia, tech, and diaspora communities, as well as a commitment to defending democratic ideals all over again.

For the moment, at least, the MSS does not appear to be losing steam. Its aggressive public campaigns and unrelenting operations demonstrate a confidence that alarms Western intelligence officials. While the world struggles with China's increasing strength, this is one thing that is certain: the MSS is not simply playing spy—it is remaking the rules.