2026年10月6日凌晨5点（美国东部时间）：2026年9月，联邦调查局局长瑞安·卢卡斯与卡什·帕特尔在华盛顿特区出席参议院司法委员会听证会。
October 6, 2026 5:00 AM ET Ryan Lucas FBI Director Kash Patel testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in September 2026 in Washington, D.C.
据五位知情人士透露，尽管美国正面临越来越多企图窃取国家机密的敌对势力，但全美各地的反情报小组——这些专门负责追踪和揪出外国间谍的特勤单位——却遭到了大幅裁减。
Win McNamee/Getty Images counterintelligence squads—specialized units dedicated to tracking and ferreting out foreign spies—have been hit with deep cuts across the country, even as the U.S. faces a growing array of adversaries intent on stealing the nation's secrets, according to five people familiar with the matter.
人员短缺的情况十分严重：在联邦调查局下辖的56个地区办公室中，多数反情报小组的编制仅填补了50%至60%。多个办公室负责此类工作的小组数量更是减少了一半。
The staffing shortages are so significant that in many of the FBI's 56 field offices, counterintelligence squads only have 50% to 60% of positions filled. In multiple field offices, the number of squads doing such work has been reduced by half.
当前，美国深陷与伊朗的战争泥潭；作为地缘政治上的战略对手，中国也在持续开展所谓“窃取美国政府机密以及尖端科研技术”的行动，美国官员称其手段十分猖獗。与此同时，俄罗斯同样拥有实力强劲且极具侵略性的情报机构，仍是美国的一大劲敌。
The cuts come as the U.S. is mired in a war with Iran, and as China—a geopolitical strategic rival—wages what American officials say is a relentless campaign to steal U.S. government secrets as well as cutting-edge research and technology. Russia also remains a formidable adversary with highly capable and aggressive intelligence services.
NPR采访了五位了解联邦调查局反情报工作现状的知情人士。由于话题敏感且担心遭到报复，他们均要求匿名。
NPR spoke with five people familiar with the FBI's reduced focus on counterintelligence work. They all spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the topic and for fear of retribution.
其中一人说道：“说实话，这太可怕了。威胁日益增多，而我们应对的能力却越来越弱，这绝非成功的应对之道。”据这些知情人士称，此次反情报小组遭裁减并非源于卡什·帕特尔局长下达的缩减相关工作或撤销专门小组的指令，而是当前领导层将重心放在暴力犯罪与移民问题上所致。
"It's terrifying, honestly," one of the people said. "Threats are growing and we're facing it with less and less. Not a recipe for success." The cuts to the FBI's counterintelligence squads aren't the result of a specific directive from Director Kash Patel to reduce such work or close down dedicated squads. Instead, it's a consequence of the current leadership's focus on violent crime and immigration, the people familiar with the matter say.
联邦调查局高层已明确表示，必须将资源优先用于打击暴力犯罪、黑帮活动及非法移民——这些正是特朗普总统竞选时的核心议题。相比之下，反情报工作在局内优先级已大幅下降。
Bureau leaders have made clear that resources need to be dedicated to combatting violent crime, gangs and illegal immigration—top campaign issues for President Trump. Counterintelligence has dropped down the ladder of FBI priorities.
因此，各实地办公室已从反情报部门抽调特工和分析员，转而处理政府优先事项。而负责实地办公室的特工并未填补这些空缺，而是将新来的特工或分析员调配至暴力犯罪或移民相关工作中。
As a result, field offices have pulled agents and analysts from counterintelligence and put them on the administration's priority issues. And special agents in charge of field offices aren't backfilling those spots, but instead putting new agents or analysts on violent crime or immigration work.
FBI强调其逮捕记录。针对人手短缺的质疑，FBI发言人表示：“这种说法并不属实——FBI在整个机构范围内都维持着强大的反情报行动。”该发言人称，该机构已将反情报特遣队规模扩大至超过1500人，其中包括来自合作机构以及州和地方政府执法部门的人员。
FBI touts arrest record In response to questions about the manpower shortages, an FBI spokesperson said: "This is false—the FBI maintains a robust counterintelligence operation across the enterprise." The spokesperson said the bureau has expanded its counterintelligence task forces to more than 1,500 personnel, including from partner agencies and state and local law enforcement.
“那些批评我们反情报能力的匿名消息来源脱离现实，”发言人说道。
"Anonymous sources who criticize our counterintelligence capabilities are disconnected from reality," the spokesperson said.
FBI还强调，近期重大活动中的安保工作取得了成功，包括美国250周年庆典和FIFA世界杯。
The FBI also touted as successes the security at recent major events, including America's 250th anniversary celebrations and the FIFA World Cup.
在最近向国会作证时，帕特尔表示，在他领导下的FBI逮捕的来自俄罗斯、中国、伊朗和朝鲜的间谍人数“超过了FBI历史上的任何时期”。但NPR未能独立核实这些说法。
In recent testimony before Congress, Patel said the FBI under his leadership has arrested more spies from Russia, China, Iran and North Korea "than any FBI in history." NPR was not able to independently verify those assertions.
尽管逮捕人数是一个衡量标准，但专家认为，这并非反情报工作成功的最重要指标。
While arrest numbers are one measure, experts say it isn't the most important metric of success in counterintelligence work.
“我想知道的是，有多少人在调查后被驱逐出境，或者有多少网络被彻底揭露并瓦解，”前中央情报局分析师、共和党执政时期参议院情报委员会前副主任艾米丽·哈丁说道。
"I want to know things like how many people were kicked out of the country because of an investigation, or how many networks were completely exposed and halted," said Emily Harding, an ex-CIA analyst and former deputy director of the Senate Intelligence Committee under Republicans.
“有时，真正的胜利并非来自起诉和逮捕。有时，真正的胜利在于能够追溯一个网络直至其源头，然后将其彻底摧毁，甚至可能用他们换取你更想要的东西。” 华盛顿特区外围人员短缺也是帕特尔推动分析人员离开联邦调查局（FBI）位于华盛顿特区的总部、转而投入实地工作所产生的连锁反应——一些前局内官员认为这一举措有其合理性。
"Sometimes the win is not the prosecution and the arrest. Sometimes the win is being able to trace a network all the way back to its source, and then being able to wrap up that network and perhaps trade them for something you want even more." Push outside D.C. The manpower shortages are also a ripple effect of Patel's push to get analysts out of the FBI's headquarters in Washington, D.C., and into the field—an effort that some former bureau officials say has merit.
但这一举措也带来了副作用。当专注于反情报的分析人员从总部调往实地办公室时，许多人被调离反间谍工作，转而从事暴力犯罪和帮派相关的工作。
But that effort comes with side effects. When analysts who focused on counterintelligence were moved from headquarters to field offices, many were shifted off of counterespionage work and toward work on violent crime and gangs.
据熟悉此事的人士称，失去这些分析人员使得启动新调查变得更加困难。即使特工能够展开调查，分析人员的短缺也让证据分析变得困难，难以为指导调查工作提供方向。
Losing those analysts has made it harder to start new investigations, according to the people familiar with the matter. Even if agents are able to open an investigation, a lack of analysts has made it harder to make sense of the evidence and provide direction for investigators.
这也是过去18个月以来，经验丰富的FBI特工和分析人员大规模流失的结果。
It is also the result of the significant exodus of experienced FBI agents and analysts from the bureau over the past 18 months.
其中一些人被帕特尔及其领导团队解雇或迫于压力而离职。其中包括五名特工和一名主管，他们此前都负责处理来自伊朗的反情报威胁，但在特朗普政府发起对伊朗的战争前几天被解雇。
Some have been fired or forced out by Patel and his leadership team. That includes five special agents and a supervisor, all of whom worked Iranian counterintelligence threats, who were dismissed days before the Trump administration launched its war on Iran.
他们是在纽约等地负责反情报工作的多名被解雇的特工之一，这些特工因参与对特朗普总统的调查而遭到解雇。
They were among several special agents who worked on counterintelligence, including in New York, who were fired for having been involved in investigations of President Trump.
更广泛的人员流失 这些离职事件是本届政府任期内FBI更广泛的人员流失的一部分。
Broader drain of personnel Those departures are part of a broader manpower drain at the bureau under this administration.
据两名熟悉此事的人士称，自特朗普总统重返白宫以来，FBI总共失去了超过1500名特工。总体而言，该机构的人员数量较2025年1月的水平减少了超过650人。
In total, the FBI has lost more than 1,500 special agents since President Trump returned to office, according to two people familiar with the matter. Overall, the bureau is down more than 650 agents from January 2025 levels.
离职的特工带走了他们的经验和机构知识——而这二者正是复杂且需要细致分析的反情报工作所迫切需要的，因为建立情报来源和案件往往需要数年时间。
The agents who have left have taken their experience and institutional knowledge with them—both of which are in high demand for complex, nuanced counterintelligence work, where building sources and cases can take years.
“当你失去这些知识时，你不能只是用全新的代理人来取代它。你失去了经验，从头开始，”一个人说。“这项工作需要一个巨大的学习曲线。“反间谍案件是出了名的复杂和困难。通常，目标甚至不是起诉，而是尽可能多地了解对手的意图。
"When you lose that knowledge, you don't just replace it with a brand new agent. You lose the experience and are starting from scratch," one person said. "There's a huge learning curve for this work." Counterintelligence cases are notoriously complex and difficult. Often, the goal isn't even to bring a case for prosecution, but instead to learn as much as possible about what an adversary is up to.
“反情报案件经常持续多年，他们的结果并不是逮捕，但可能是有人被踢出这个国家或者发生了一些非常安静的事情，”前中央情报局分析师哈丁说，他现在在战略与国际研究中心智库。这是一项缓慢而艰苦的工作，通常需要长时间盯着一个目标。
"Counterintelligence cases frequently go on for years and years, and they result not so much in an arrest, but maybe in somebody getting kicked out of the country or something very quiet happening," said Harding, the former CIA analyst who is now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. It is slow, painstaking work that often involves long periods of time staring at a target.
她补充说：“如果你认为有人是潜在的俄罗斯间谍，你需要对此人进行全天候的报道，这需要大量的人力来进行全天候的报道。”在本届政府领导下，联邦调查局仍在处理反间谍案件。
"If you have somebody who you think is a potential Russian spy, you need 24/7 coverage of that person, and that's a lot of manpower to do 24/7 coverage," she added. The FBI is still doing counterintelligence cases under this administration.
2025年5月，联邦调查局逮捕了一名国防情报局前计算机专家，罪名是试图向外国势力提供机密信息。他今年八月认罪。
In May 2025, the FBI arrested a former computer specialist for the Defense Intelligence Agency for trying to provide classified information to a foreign power. He pleaded guilty this August.
上个月，联邦检察官对五名涉嫌俄罗斯情报人员提出指控，指控他们涉嫌策划在欧洲和美国发动袭击，包括华盛顿特区所谓的暗杀阴谋但前官员表示，反间谍威胁本质上是沉默的，这使得很难知道何时会被发现。
And last month, federal prosecutors brought charges against five suspected Russian intelligence operatives for allegedly planning attacks in Europe and the U.S., including a purported assassination plot in Washington, D.C. But former officials say counterintelligence threats are silent by nature, which makes it hard to know when one is going undetected.
如果联邦调查局错过了恐怖阴谋，那么东西很可能会爆炸。如果联邦调查局错过了反间谍威胁，那么对政府机密或尖端技术的悄悄盗窃就会继续畅通无阻。
If the FBI misses a terrorist plot, then something is likely to explode. If the FBI misses a counterintelligence threat, the quiet theft of government secrets or cutting-edge technology just continues unimpeded.
哈丁说：“如果反间谍特工不能成功关闭网络，你就会失去从知识产权到世界经济地位的一切，甚至会失去像真正的高度机密政府机密这样糟糕的东西。”联邦调查局反情报和间谍部门负责的职责范围很广泛。
"If the counterintelligence agents don't manage to shut down the networks, you lose everything from intellectual property to economic standings in the world, so even something as bad as real government secrets that are highly classified," Harding said. The range of responsibilities that the FBI's Counterintelligence and Espionage Division handles is broad.
它的范围涵盖了从监视在大使馆和领事馆工作的外国间谍到调查试图窃取美国技术和知识产权的所谓非传统收藏家--大学研究人员、学者、私营部门工作人员。
It runs the gamut from monitoring foreign spies working out of embassies and consulates to investigating what are known as non-traditional collectors—university researchers, academics, private sector workers—who are trying to steal U.S. technology and intellectual property.
它还涉及调查可能向外国势力出售机密的美国官员，例如针对一名向中国提供机密信息的国务院雇员的案件。
It also involves investigating U.S. officials who may be selling secrets to a foreign power, such as the case against a State Department employee who was providing classified information to China.
该部门还负责打击外国政府在美国领土上恐吓甚至暗杀美国人或持不同政见者的行为，以及防止大规模杀伤性武器的扩散。
The division is also responsible for combatting efforts by foreign governments to intimidate and, in some instances, even assassinate Americans or dissidents on U.S. soil, as well as preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
每12小时就有新的中国案件仅在经济间谍方面，仅来自中国政府的威胁规模就令人畏惧。
New China cases every 12 hours Just on the economic espionage front, the scale of the threat from the Chinese government alone is daunting.
前联邦调查局局长克里斯托弗·雷（Christopher Wray）在2022年表示，该局对中国窃取美国信息或技术的行为进行了2，000多项调查。
Former FBI Director Christopher Wray said in 2022 that the bureau had more than 2,000 investigations focused on Chinese efforts to steal U.S. information or technology.
雷在专门讨论这一主题的演讲中表示：“没有哪个国家比中国对我们的思想、创新和经济安全构成更广泛的威胁。”
"There's just no country that presents a broader threat to our ideas, innovation, and economic security than China," Wray said in a speech dedicated to the subject.
他补充说，联邦调查局大约每12小时就会立案一起新案件，以对抗中国的情报行动。
He added that the FBI opened a new case roughly every 12 hours to counter Chinese intelligence operations.
“中国政府经济间谍活动的危害不仅仅在于其公司依靠非法获得的技术取得领先。当他们领先的同时，他们也把我们的公司和工人推到了后面，”雷说。“十年来，这种伤害--公司倒闭、失业--一直在积累，达到了我们今天所感受到的压力。“雷将打击来自中国的威胁作为该局任期的首要任务，他于2024年12月辞职，特朗普总统选择帕特尔接替他。国内间谍情报中国
"The harm from the Chinese government's economic espionage isn't just that its companies pull ahead based on illegally gotten technology. While they pull ahead, they push our companies and workers behind," Wray said. "That harm — company failures, job losses — has been building for a decade to the crush we feel today." Wray, who made combatting the threat from China a priority of his tenure at the bureau, stepped down in December 2024 President Trump picked Patel to replace him. domestic spying intelligence China