FBI Director Wray Reveals Top Threat Facing Incoming Trump Admin

FBI Director Christopher Wray said during an interview over the weekend that communist China is the most significant threat facing the incoming Trump administration.

Wray made the remarks during an interview that aired Sunday on CBS News’ “60 Minutes” just days before he steps down from his position after President-elect Donald Trump said that he would replace Wray with a new nominee, Kash Patel.

“The greatest long-term threat facing our country, in my view, is represented by the People’s Republic of China, the Chinese government, which I consider to be the defining threat of our generation,” Wray said.

When asked about China’s recent hack of U.S. cyber and infrastructure, Wray said that China’s program is “far and away the world’s largest — bigger than that of every major nation combined and has stolen more of Americans’ personal and corporate data than that of every nation, big or small, combined.”

“But even beyond the cyber theft, there’s another part of the Chinese cyber threat that I think has not gotten the attention publicly that it I think desperately deserves,” he continued. “And that is Chinese government’s pre-positioning on American civilian critical infrastructure. To lie in wait on those networks to be in a position to wreak havoc and can inflict real-world harm at a time and place of their choosing.”

He said that China has used malware to infect water treatment plants, transportation systems, the electric grid, natural gas pipelines, and telecommunications systems.

WATCH:

The Chinese government is the greatest long-term threat facing our country, says FBI Director Christopher Wray. https://t.co/QKATOO0ZDw pic.twitter.com/Si5u8BMXYd

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) January 13, 2025