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Conflict & Security16 outlets ran this6 min read

FBI expands crime-fighting cooperation with China and Russia under Patel

Joint raids, personnel exchanges and working groups mark a shift in US law enforcement partnerships with two geopolitical rivals

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published
FBI expands crime-fighting cooperation with China and Russia under Patel

What this story says

  • FBI Director Kash Patel has established working groups with China and Russia focused on fentanyl, cyber fraud, child exploitation and fugitive cases.
  • The partnerships involve monthly personnel exchanges, joint raids and intelligence sharing, including a Dubai operation that led to 300 arrests.
  • The initiatives began after President Donald Trump’s 2025 visit to China and have raised concerns within the US counterintelligence community.
  • Patel described the cooperation as limited and selective, while critics warn of espionage risks from sharing sensitive information with authoritarian regimes.

Who covered it

Left 15%(2)Centre 23%(3)Right 62%(8)

Percentages are shares of the 13 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 3 of the 16 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

70/100

Craft

65/100

Hype

25/100

16 sources · methodology

Thin on the left so far

Only 2 of the 13 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated left.

This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.

FBI Director Kash Patel has established law enforcement partnerships with China and Russia over the past year to combat transnational crimes. The cooperation, which Patel described as selective and limited, focuses on fentanyl trafficking, cyber fraud, child sexual exploitation and fugitive cases. The partnerships involve monthly personnel exchanges, joint raids and intelligence sharing between US and Chinese officials.

The initiatives began after President Donald Trump’s visit to China in May 2025. Patel has since made two trips to China and met with Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong and Vice Minister Xu Datong. A trip to Russia is tentatively planned for October 2026. The FBI and Chinese authorities conducted a joint raid in Dubai in May 2026, dubbed "Operation Sand Dollar", which resulted in 300 arrests, the seizure of $300 million and the rescue of thousands of trafficked workers.

Patel told Reuters the partnerships are narrow in scope and do not replace longstanding alliances such as the "Five Eyes" intelligence network. He said counterintelligence measures are in place for foreign visitors to FBI facilities. Former FBI supervisory agent Jeff Crocker, who retired in 2024, warned that China and Russia would use access to US facilities for espionage, calling the cooperation "great cover" for infiltration.

What the coverage left out

None of the right-rated digests mentioned the repatriation of a suspect from China to the US, a detail included in the full reports from The Express Tribune and HuffPost. The left-rated reports did not include the Chinese Embassy’s statement that "dialogue and negotiation are the right way forward", which appeared in the centre-rated full report from The Express Tribune.

Tags:#USChinaRelations#USRussiaRelations#FBICooperation#TransnationalCrime#Counterintelligence#LawEnforcement

Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 6 times, most recently on 5 Aug 2026, 18:00, and will add the sides that appear.

How other outlets pictured it

Which photograph to run is each newsroom’s own choice. The leaning beside a name is that outlet’s published rating, not a claim that the pictures divide along it. Every picture is shown from the outlet’s own server and links to the article it ran in.

FBI expands crime-fighting cooperation with China and Russia under Patel
HuffPostLeft

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

2 rated outlets

  • The two left-rated reports, from HuffPost and Raw Story, led on the counterintelligence risks of the partnerships. HuffPost’s full report quoted former FBI supervisory agent Jeff Crocker, who called China and Russia "our enemies, period" and warned that their agents would exploit access to US facilities. Raw Story’s digest highlighted the "significant alarm" the initiatives have triggered within the US counterintelligence community.
  • Both reports included Patel’s description of the partnerships as "selective and limited" and noted the concerns raised by former FBI officials. HuffPost quoted Patel’s assurance that counterintelligence measures are deployed for foreign visitors, while Raw Story’s digest focused on the broader unease among US security officials.

Centre

3 rated outlets

  • The two centre-rated reports, from The Express Tribune and Reuters, provided detailed accounts of the partnerships’ structure and scope. The Express Tribune’s full report described the four working groups, cyber fraud, violent crimes against children, counternarcotics and a fugitive task force, and quoted Patel’s statement that the cooperation is "an apolitical mission". Reuters’ digest summarised the partnerships’ focus on transnational crimes and the personnel exchanges involved.
  • Both reports included the "Operation Sand Dollar" raid in Dubai and Patel’s assertion that the partnerships do not replace the "Five Eyes" alliance. The Express Tribune quoted Patel’s remark that the relationships are "new and dynamic" and his insistence that they are managed with awareness of China and Russia’s adversarial stance.

Right

8 rated outlets

  • The six right-rated digests led on the partnerships’ departure from past US policy and the security risks involved. India Today, De Telegraaf, Pakistan Today, Times of India and The Straits Times all noted the shift in approach and the focus on crimes such as fentanyl trafficking and cyber fraud. De Telegraaf’s digest explicitly called the sharing of sensitive information "dangerous".
  • Korrespondent.net’s digest described the partnerships as a "new era" of cooperation, while India Today and Pakistan Today emphasised their limited scope. None of the right-rated digests mentioned the "Operation Sand Dollar" raid or the specific counterintelligence measures Patel described. The focus was on the broader implications of the partnerships and the potential risks to US security.

Read it at the source

16 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

2

Centre

3

Right

8

Not rated

3

How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

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