NSA Deputy: China Aided Iranian Attacks on US Bases via AI

Chinese Firms Allegedly Enabled Iranian Targeting

The National Security Agency's second-ranking official has accused Chinese companies of providing geospatial intelligence to Iranian forces that enabled attacks on American military installations during the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict.

"It's no secret that Chinese companies provided GEOINT to the Iranians to help hit our bases and our allies," NSA Deputy Director Tim Kosiba said Thursday at the TechNet Augusta conference in Washington.

Kosiba's remarks represent one of the most direct public allegations linking Chinese commercial intelligence capabilities to kinetic threats against U.S. forces. The Washington Post reported in April that Chinese firms—some with military connections—had been using artificial intelligence to analyze open-source data for tracking American deployments. While U.S. officials reportedly disagreed on the severity of the threat, at least one Australian defense source told ABC the intelligence was endangering lives.

China's foreign ministry has characterized such activities as routine market practices using publicly available imagery.

Why it matters

The allegation illustrates how commercial AI capabilities are blurring traditional intelligence boundaries. When adversary nations can weaponize open-source data through machine learning—potentially enabling precision strikes on U.S. forces—the distinction between civilian technology companies and military intelligence assets becomes operationally meaningless. For defense leaders, this underscores the urgency of both protecting operational security in an era of ubiquitous sensing and accelerating friendly AI adoption.

Broader Pattern of Chinese Support for Adversaries

Kosiba framed the Iranian intelligence sharing as part of a systematic Chinese effort to undermine American interests globally. He described Beijing as playing "spoiler" and "disruptor" roles from Greenland to the Korean Peninsula to the Western Hemisphere.

The deputy director also cited China's support for Russia's war in Ukraine, including intelligence sharing, drone technology transfers, and training. Reuters reported in May, citing European intelligence sources, that China had trained scores of Russian soldiers—activity Kosiba linked to what Beijing calls a "partnership without limits."

"China has its hands in most every national security priority we are dealing with today, and it's a hot competition," Kosiba said. He added that U.S. troops, cyber operators, and signals intelligence resources have been tasked with tracking and countering these activities as an administration priority.

Agentic AI as Immediate Battlefield Reality

Kosiba emphasized that artificial intelligence has already fundamentally altered the character of warfare, not as a future possibility but as a present operational reality.

"We live in a world of agentic AI, and I mean right now—not in a year or a decade, but today, in the engagements we are in today," he said, referring to autonomous AI systems capable of multi-step actions without continuous human prompting.

The NSA is responding by deepening partnerships with allied intelligence services and working to reduce bureaucratic barriers for collaboration with private industry, Kosiba said. He warned that adversaries are investing heavily in AI designed to penetrate U.S. networks and outpace American capabilities.

"Whomever successfully integrates AI into their workflows and leverages it to fully harness the power of their data will have an immense advantage," Kosiba said. "We can't fall behind, not even for a moment."

These details were first reported by Breaking Defense.