Chinese Student Spies Overwhelm US

China succeeds in spying by overwhelming other nations with the number of spies, in particular students.

You could have one spy steal 10,000 documents, or you could have 10,000 spies each steal one document. Mario Tama/Getty Images

Intelligence agencies around the world typically regard China’s approach to spying as sloppy and unprofessional. While many other countries focus on stealth and finesse for espionage, China’s focus is on mass numbers.

While regarded as unprofessional, China’s approach has also been extremely effective. The challenge posed by China comes down to a simple fact: it has too many spies for foreign intelligence agencies to keep track of.