The FBI never changes, does it? I’m not even saying that they’re wrong, but stating it this way is just fodder for bin fires. It would be strange if China and others didn’t do this, and strange if the US didn’t do it to them.
You need to balance reasonable skepticism and dislike of three-letter agencies with the fact that they also do real work in addressing threats from other state actors.
EDIT: If you want a take on this from a less law enforcement-y source, try https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/01/16/how-china.... Politico can hardly be described as paranoid war-hawks.
Edit: That article describes educational institutions run by the Chinese government, rather than the infiltration of US institutions. These strike me as very different topics, especially since one is overt and the other covert.
1 A federal police force (with reduced surveillance powers) which would take over the BATF and the currency and uniformed part of the secret service.
2 A separate contra espionage organisation similar to MI5
You're presenting a curious case here. You want the intelligence community to respond to threats from state actors, but without ever telling the public that's what they're doing? There are two problems with this:
1. Government transparency - I want to know what the FBI is up to. You are advocating more opacity in their operations, for uncertain gain.
2. What if "doing something about it" requires cooperation from the public? The specific issues under discussion is the Confucius Institutes being established at various universities, but these are not illegal and the FBI has no power to get rid of them, nor do I want them to have that power. All they can do is point out the threat and leave the ultimate decision to the university administrators.
2. The issue of infiltrating US institutions seems separate from overtly running ChiCom schools on US soil.
Is it just the elites trying to put pressure on china or are we at the beginning stages of a fundamental shift in our relations with china?
Have the elites decided on a more antagonistic position against china?
while I recognize there may be impacts to such a decision, I feel apathetic about the decisions of "the elite". I sometimes imagine that we would all benefit from taking this view.