Natalie Winters@nataliegwinters · Aug 13, 2026

EXCLUSIVE: Chinese spies built a secret nuclear war backchannel between former U.S. military chiefs and a blacklisted…

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Summary

Chinese intelligence allegedly orchestrated secret backchannel communications between high-ranking former U.S. military and government officials, including a former Joint Chiefs chairman, and a blacklisted Chinese nuclear weapons research center (CAEP), discussing sensitive nuclear policy matters like command-and-control systems and ballistic missile technology. The communications were facilitated through a front organization with explicit Communist Party control, part of Beijing's broader political warfare strategy targeting American policy elites.

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#1
EXCLUSIVE: Chinese spies built a secret nuclear war backchannel between former U.S. military chiefs and a blacklisted Chinese nuclear weapons research center. Participants even included a former Joint Chiefs chairman. Here are their names 🧵
#2
The U.S. participants included: • Adm. Mike Mullen — former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff • Adm. James Ellis — former Commander of U.S. Strategic Command • Ernest Moniz — former Energy Secretary • Sam Nunn — former Senate Armed Services Chairman
#3
Also involved: • Madelyn Creedon — former senior National Nuclear Security Administration official • Stephen Biegun — former Deputy Secretary of State • Rose Gottemoeller — former Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and NATO Deputy Secretary General • Steve Andreasen — former NSC Director for Defense Policy and Arms Control • Paul Dean — former Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control • Mark Melamed — former State Department nuclear official • Joan Rohlfing — senior Nuclear Threat Initiative official
#4
The exchanges covered some of the most sensitive areas of U.S. nuclear policy: • nuclear command-and-control • nuclear force posture • nuclear weapons and delivery-system design • potential U.S.-China crises and conflicts
#5
They also discussed: • post-launch destruct mechanisms for ballistic missiles • sharing ballistic-missile early-warning information • extending the time leaders have to make nuclear decisions
#6
The former Joint Chiefs Chairman who participated has publicly advocated for positions Beijing’s propaganda apparatus was eager to promote. His op-ed, “A Step Toward Trust With China,” pushed more military exchanges and cooperation with the PLA: “We need to make the relationship better, by seeking strategic trust.” He even disclosed that the Pentagon had shown visiting PLA chief Gen. Chen Bingde detailed Predator drone capabilities and a live-fire exercise.
#7
Personnel from the China Academy of Engineering Physics, or CAEP, participated in the dialogues. CAEP has been subject to U.S. export restrictions since 1997 because of its role researching, developing and testing China’s nuclear weapons.
#8
The organization financing the pipeline was the Pacific International Exchange Foundation, the mainland affiliate created by the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF). PIEF’s own charter says it “upholds the overall leadership of the Chinese Communist Party.” The charter also requires a Communist Party organization inside the foundation and gives the Party a role in reviewing major decisions and “foreign-related activities.”
#9
CUSEF itself has already been identified by congressional investigators as an “instrument of the CCP’s approach to political warfare.” Its broader influence operation has cultivated journalists, congressional staffers, academics, military figures and policy elites. Now the same model reached former U.S. nuclear officials.
#10
This is the kind of story you only get by digging through the documents nobody expects you to read. The full investigation has the deleted Chinese records, names, meetings and receipts. Read it on my Substack: nataliegwinters.substack.com/p/exc-chinese-…