Iran has taken up most of the headlines in recent weeks, but that doesn’t mean China and Russia still aren’t out there looking for any opportunity to undermine the United States. The Chinese Communist Party, in particular, still remains our most important potential geopolitical threat.
They like to steal our technology secrets, they like to spy, and they like to hack our information systems. Now the Federal Bureau of Investigation is warning Congress of a “major incident” involving cyber intrusion.
The FBI last week deemed a recent China-linked cyber intrusion into a sensitive agency surveillance system a “major incident,” meaning it poses significant risks to U.S. national security, according to one congressional aide and two U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter.
The bureau first told Congress on March 4 that it was investigating suspicious activity on an internal agency system that contained “law enforcement sensitive information.” The FBI did not publicly identify who was behind the activity at the time, but POLITICO previously reported that China is suspected.
BREAKING: FBI officials reached out to members of Congress last week to alert them to a cyber hack classified as a "major incident."
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 2, 2026
Fox News is told that China is the culprit and that the breach could pose a threat to national security. pic.twitter.com/5sbs3dsn9r
The term “major incident” is no accident; it’s very specifically defined by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Department of Homeland Security agency tasked with protecting the nation’s cyber infrastructure. A major incident is serious enough that it must be reported to Congress very quickly:
Major Incidents
FISMA requires the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to define a major incident and directs agencies to report major incidents to Congress within 7 days of identification. Agencies should comply with the criteria set out in the most recent OMB guidance when determining whether an incident should be designated as major.
The impacted agency is ultimately responsible for determining if an incident should be designated as major and may consult with CISA to make this determination. Additionally, if CISA determines that an incident meets the criteria for High (Orange) on the Cyber Incident Severity Schema, it will suggest that the agency designate that incident as a major incident.
Under Presidential Policy Directive 41 (PPD-41) - United States Cyber Incident Coordination, all major incidents are also considered significant cyber incidents, meaning they are likely to result in demonstrable harm to the national security interests, foreign relations, or economy of the United States or to the public confidence, civil liberties or public health and safety of the American people.
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What does it mean, though? Authorities are tight-lipped, but China may have gotten their hands on some serious intel:
The determination suggests the hackers successfully compromised swathes of sensitive data stored directly on FBI systems, likely marking a major counterintelligence coup for China...
Cynthia Kaiser, the former deputy assistant director of the FBI’s cyber division, said she is not aware of the FBI making any such determination on a hack affecting its own systems since at least 2020.
While our attentions are focused on Iran for the time being, China is still out there, looking for any edge it can get.
“This incident is yet another stark reminder that the threat from sophisticated cyber adversaries like China has not gone away — in fact, it’s growing more aggressive by the day,” said Sen. Mark Warner (D-V.A.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee.
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