Executive Summary

We assess that several countries, including but not limited to China and Israel, actively use their respective diaspora communities abroad as assets for intelligence gathering and influence operations. Diaspora populations–due to their transnational ties, cultural connections to their home countries, and often complex political identities–present unique vulnerabilities that foreign intelligence services actively seek to exploit for strategic advantage. That same vulnerability makes some diaspora communities, when considered dissidents, easy targets for their home countries’ repressive policies. 

Images Sourced From: Dietmar Rabich, Nizzan Cohen, Shaghayegh Moradiannejad