Ministry of State Security (China)

The Ministry of State Security (MSS) (Chinese: Guojia Anquanbu 国家安全部 or Guoanbu 国安部) is a Chinese government department responsible for security, intelligence and counterintelligence (ref 4, p.405).

History

The Ministry of State Security was created in 1983 to take over the counterespionage and political functions of the older Ministry of Public Security (MPS), leaving the MPS with responsibility for regular police functions (ref 1, p.277). According to Jeffrey Richelson, this reflected official dissatisfaction with a high level of leaks, rooted in the breadth of official secrecy laws (ref 1, p.282).