A few weeks ago, President Trump announced that China had collected voter information for 220 million Americans—to nobody’s surprise. China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are responsible for 77 percent of all suspected malicious cyber operations inside the United States since 2005, targeting American critical infrastructure, sensitive data, and everyday systems. In the face of such significant threats, the United States must reinvest in defense initiatives and direct our own agencies to act more aggressively by clarifying foreign agent laws, reinstating Department of Justice (DOJ) projects, and establishing a wider net of intelligence alliances.

China, our greatest adversary, has directed its intelligence services to target Americans across the cyber, business, academic, and political domains to eliminate our competitive edge in the technological race. Beijing’s economic espionage alone costs U.S. firms more than $600 billion a year, and the National Counterintelligence and Security Center estimates China has already stolen the personal data of 80 percent of American adults.

Joining China in efforts to degrade American security is Russia, which specializes in “gray zone” activities including cyber-attacks, economic coercion, and political influence operations aimed at sowing deep distrust against Western institutions. Iran, too, utilizes agents posing as political activists online to fuel destructive anti-Israel movements in the United States with disinformation and money. These efforts collectively represent a sustained campaign to distort our understanding of the world, presenting a serious national security risk.

To mitigate these threats, the United States should pursue a two pronged approach, increasing our ability to defend against them and increasing our own innovative capacity to stay ahead of the CCP. Domestically, the U.S. government should reiterate that Chinese students who report to the CCP will be designated foreign agents and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The DOJ should reinstate the China Initiative, or some similar program, to conduct such legal action. Congress should also restrict the positions that Chinese foreign students may hold in university labs, particularly those conducting cutting edge research with potential defense applications. To stay at the forefront of innovation, Congress should increase funding for emerging technologies, particularly quantum research, as the first cryptographically relevant quantum computer (CRQC) is able to break all public-key encryptions, allowing us to read foreign communications worldwide. Internationally, we should establish an intelligence sharing agreement with Indo-Pacific partners, and reaffirm a close, strategic alliance with Israel. These steps will reduce many headaches plaguing Americans, ranging from small nuisances like clogged social media feeds to the larger threat of national espionage.

Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea do not merely pose economic or military threats. Their continued espionage, ideological influence, and efforts to target Americans here at home is an issue that poses immediate dangers and demands immediate action.