The CIA is releasing instructions in Farsi, Mandarin and Korean to allow people to share information with the agency without running afoul of authoritarian regimes.
“People are trying to reach out to us from around the world and we are offering them instructions for how to do that safely,” the CIA said in a statement on Wednesday. “The security of those willing to reach out to us around the world is of paramount importance to us, and we want them to do so as safely as possible.”
Farsi is spoken by more than 100 million people in Iran and nearby countries, while Mandarin, with more than 1 billion speakers, is the majority language in China.
The instructions, in a text-only video and infographic, were posted online across multiple social media platforms and sites on the dark web, the agency said.
“Our efforts on this front have been successful in Russia, and we want to make sure individuals in other authoritarian regimes know that we’re open for business,” it said.
In 2023, the CIA announced it had posted instructions in Russian on how to access a site on the dark web accessible only through a Tor internet browser, which unlike most browsers has encryption protections.
The spy agency’s director, William Burns, has said that disaffection in Russia after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has created a “once-in-a-generation” recruiting opportunity for the CIA.
The rise of “digital authoritarianism” has seen regimes such as China, Russia and Iran blocking and censoring websites, conducting digital surveillance and restricting bandwidth to suppress any criticism and cut off the free flow of information, according to human rights groups.
The instructions posted Wednesday advise possible informants: not to use their home or work computer; employ only up-to-date web browsers; use the browser’s private browser mode; delete computer searches and browser histories by following the CIA’s instructions; use the Tor network or a trusted VPN service not headquartered in Russia, Iran or China or other country hostile to the U.S.; and use a “kill switch” feature on the VPN service if available so the device will disconnect from the internet if the VPN connection is lost.
Once a message lands at the agency, the CIA will evaluate it, the agency said. “The evaluation process of each message may take time. Based upon our assessment of your security situation, CIA may not reply.”
And there was one last piece of advice: “It is advised to check your ‘spam’ message folder as well” for any possible reply from the agency.