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China is also believed to be behind hacks of Anthem insurance (80 million records), Marriott (400 million records), and Equifax’s 146 million credit records covering nearly every adult in America.78 All of this information can be used to blow intelligence covers and identify and pressure vulnerable targets to betray the United States.79 It’s an intelligence bonanza for Beijing and a nightmare for Washington—the largest and most sophisticated intelligence database ever collected against an adversary. “You have to kind of salute the Chinese for what they did,” noted Director of National Intelligence James Clapper after the OPM breach.80 From an intelligence perspective, it was a masterstroke.
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Amy B. Zegart (Spies, Lies, and Algorithms: The History and Future of American Intelligence)