Ministry of State Security (China)

Ministry of State Security
国家安全部; Guójiā Ānquán Bù
	Official seal of the MSS
Ministry overview
Formed	1 July 1983
Preceding agencies	Central Special Branch; Central Social Affairs Department; Central Investigation Department;
Type	Constituent Department of the State Council
Jurisdiction	People's Republic of China including Hong Kong and Macau
Headquarters	Yidongyuan compound, No. 100 Xiyuan, Haidian District, Beijing, China; 39°59′32″N 116°16′42″E / 39.9921°N 116.2783°E
Motto	"Serve the people firmly and purely, reassure the party, be willing to contribute, be able to fight hard and win"
Employees	110,000 (estimated)
Annual budget	Classified
Minister responsible	Chief Superintendent Chen Yixin, Minister;
Deputy Ministers responsible	Tang Dai; Shi Haoyong; Yuan Yiku;
Ministry executive	Nie Furu, Head of Political Department;
Parent organization	Central National Security Commission; Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission
Child agencies	Office for Safeguarding National Security; Shanghai State Security Bureau; Tianjin State Security Bureau; Jiangsu State Security Department;
Website	www.12339.gov.cn
Footnotes
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese	国家安全部
Traditional Chinese	國家安全部
Literal meaning	State Security Ministry
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Guójiā Ānquán Bù

The Ministry of State Security (MSS or Guóānbù; Chinese: 国家安全部; pinyin: Guójiā Ānquán Bù; lit. 'State Security Ministry'; IPA: [kwǒ.tɕjá án.tɕʰɥɛ̌n pû]) is the principal civilian intelligence, security and secret police agency of the People's Republic of China, responsible for foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, and the political security of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). One of the largest and most secretive intelligence organizations in the world, it is headquartered in the Haidian District of Beijing, with powerful semi-autonomous branches at the provincial, city, municipality and township levels throughout China.^[2]^[3]^[4]

The origins of the MSS begin with the CCP's Central Special Branch, better known as the Teke, which was replaced by the Central Social Affairs Department (SAD) in 1936, which was in turn succeeded by the Central Investigation Department (CID) – the MSS's immediate predecessor – in 1955. In 1983 CID was merged with the counterintelligence elements of the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) to create the MSS.

The MSS is active in industrial and cyber espionage, where it has replaced the People's Liberation Army (PLA) as the country's most sophisticated and prolific advanced persistent threat actor.^[5]^[6] It makes arrests through its own component of the People's Police, and maintains the authority to conduct its own extrajudicial court hearings.^[7]^[8]^[9]

The ministry is also be known to be involved in transnational repression, organized crime, surveillance and harassment of dissidents abroad and influence operations targeting overseas Chinese diaspora in collaboration with the United Front Work Department.^[10]^[11]^[9]

Today the agency is estimated to have at least 110,000 employees, with 10,000 directly attached to MSS headquarters and 100,000 spread across its dozens of provincial branches. The agency's military intelligence counterpart is the PLA Intelligence Bureau of the Joint Staff Department.

^ Guo, Xuezhi (2012). China's Security State: Philosophy, Evolution, and Politics. Cambridge University Press. p. 363. ISBN 978-1-107-02323-9. The MSS headquarters was located where the previous CID was, at No. 100 Xiyuan, a location with tight security in the western suburbs of Beijing
^ Mattis, Peter (9 July 2017). "Everything We Know about China's Secretive State Security Bureau". The National Interest. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
^ Eftimiades, Nicholas (2017-07-28). Chinese Intelligence Operations: Espionage Damage Assessment Branch, US Defence Intelligence Agency. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-24017-2. OCLC 1118472067. Archived from the original on 2020-08-23. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
^ Mattis, Peter; Brazil, Matthew (2019-11-15). Chinese Communist Espionage: An Intelligence Primer. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-68247-304-7. OCLC 1117319580.
^ Perlroth, Nicole (2021-07-19). "How China Transformed Into a Prime Cyber Threat to the U.S." The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-05-13.
^ Dilanian, Ken (October 9, 2018). "They're back: Chinese hackers are stealing from U.S. firms again". NBC News. Retrieved 2023-05-13. Dmitri Alperovitch said his firm is observing an increase in hacks by China's Ministry of State Security, which he says is far more adept and proficient than the People's Liberation Army, which previously had conducted most of the hacks into private Western companies. "That's troubling, because they've always been the better actor," he said.
^ Cite error: The named reference :222 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Guo, Xuezhi (2012). China's Security State: Philosophy, Evolution, and Politics. Cambridge University Press. p. 368. ISBN 978-1-107-02323-9. Like the MPS, the MSS has a wide scope of authority in domestic intelligence activities, and that authority overlaps with the law enforcement responsibilities of the MPS. Thus, the MSS not only is involved in police functions (similar to the U.S. FBI) but also fulfills other roles, such as court hearings (akin to the role of the judiciary in Western democracies).
^ ^a ^b Sebastian, Rotella; Berg, Kirsten (2022-10-11). "How a Chinese American Gangster Transformed Money Laundering for Drug Cartels". ProPublica. Retrieved 2024-01-14.
^ Zhang, Albert (2023-07-24). "China's cyber interference and transnational crime groups in Southeast Asia". The Strategist. Retrieved 2024-01-14.
^ Rotella, Sebastian (2023-07-12). "Outlaw Alliance: How China and Chinese Mafias Overseas Protect Each Other's Interests". ProPublica. Retrieved 2024-01-14.

[1] Guo, Xuezhi (2012). China's Security State: Philosophy, Evolution, and Politics. Cambridge University Press. p. 363. ISBN 978-1-107-02323-9. The MSS headquarters was located where the previous CID was, at No. 100 Xiyuan, a location with tight security in the western suburbs of Beijing

[2] Mattis, Peter (9 July 2017). "Everything We Know about China's Secretive State Security Bureau". The National Interest. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2022.

[3] Eftimiades, Nicholas (2017-07-28). Chinese Intelligence Operations: Espionage Damage Assessment Branch, US Defence Intelligence Agency. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-24017-2. OCLC 1118472067. Archived from the original on 2020-08-23. Retrieved 2020-05-10.

[:1-4] Mattis, Peter; Brazil, Matthew (2019-11-15). Chinese Communist Espionage: An Intelligence Primer. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-68247-304-7. OCLC 1117319580.

[5] Perlroth, Nicole (2021-07-19). "How China Transformed Into a Prime Cyber Threat to the U.S." The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-05-13.

[6] Dilanian, Ken (October 9, 2018). "They're back: Chinese hackers are stealing from U.S. firms again". NBC News. Retrieved 2023-05-13. Dmitri Alperovitch said his firm is observing an increase in hacks by China's Ministry of State Security, which he says is far more adept and proficient than the People's Liberation Army, which previously had conducted most of the hacks into private Western companies. "That's troubling, because they've always been the better actor," he said.

[:222-7] Cite error: The named reference :222 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[8] Guo, Xuezhi (2012). China's Security State: Philosophy, Evolution, and Politics. Cambridge University Press. p. 368. ISBN 978-1-107-02323-9. Like the MPS, the MSS has a wide scope of authority in domestic intelligence activities, and that authority overlaps with the law enforcement responsibilities of the MPS. Thus, the MSS not only is involved in police functions (similar to the U.S. FBI) but also fulfills other roles, such as court hearings (akin to the role of the judiciary in Western democracies).

[:2-9] Sebastian, Rotella; Berg, Kirsten (2022-10-11). "How a Chinese American Gangster Transformed Money Laundering for Drug Cartels". ProPublica. Retrieved 2024-01-14.

[10] Zhang, Albert (2023-07-24). "China's cyber interference and transnational crime groups in Southeast Asia". The Strategist. Retrieved 2024-01-14.

[11] Rotella, Sebastian (2023-07-12). "Outlaw Alliance: How China and Chinese Mafias Overseas Protect Each Other's Interests". ProPublica. Retrieved 2024-01-14.

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