Spies who lie
To what degree should the annual report of the BIS counterintelligence agency be considered semi-fake news that must be taken with a grain of salt? When BIS says that it registered no relevant espionage activity here last year by any foreign governments except Russia and China, it diminishes the overall global importance of the CR yet simultaneously turns it into a major geopolitical battlefield with Nato and the EU on one side and the unfriendly giants of the East on the other. If the CR is so important on this level, why are Nato and the EU allowing Russia and China to get away with this threatening behavior? Why aren't they beefing up the front-line defenses? When Nato's intelligence chief, Arndt Freytag von Loringhoven, spoke to Czech Radio in Oct., he gave the impression that everything is under control in terms of the Russian threat, and he mentioned China only in terms of AI. The job of all spies is to lie, but they're supposed to get their stories straight.
Glossary of difficult words
to take something with a grain/pinch of salt - to regard something as exaggerated; to believe only part of something;to diminish - to cause to seem less impressive or valuable; to make or become less;
to beef something up - to give more substance or strength to something;
AI - artificial intelligence;
to get/keep one's story straight - to give the same version of events consistently; regardless of how truthful the version might be.