PLA General Staff merges its Second and Third Departments

Bowen News Agency exclusively reports that the People’s Liberation Army’s General Staff is merging its Second (military intelligence) and Third (electronic warfare) departments. The Second and Third Departments will hand over their radar responsibility to a new Air Force Strategic Early Warning department.

Boxun monthly magazine reported that Xi Jinping is very dissatisfied with the existing fragmented and redundant intelligence gathering system. There’s too much politics and too little coordination. It not only wastes resources, but also in competing and fighting with each other they lose face to the CIA. Reforming the intelligence system is now on Xi’s daily priority list.

The People’s Liberation Army General Staff has 13 bureaus under its jurisdiction. The Second and Third are responsible for intelligence gathering. Not only military intelligence, but political, economic, science and technology intelligence also. It’s the CCP’s highest intelligence gathering organ. Particularly PLA General Staff Department Three, a cover designator for its 61195 Unit, China’s military hackers. At present it’s involved in a “smokeless” cyberwar with the US and other western countries with big Internet industries. It’s strength should not be overlooked.