Christopher Wray, FBI Director: Countering Threats Posed by the Chinese Government Inside the U.S.

I’m honored to be here with you at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. The years of President Reagan’s administration were momentous ones, defined, in large part, by our struggle against the Soviet Union, and its empire—where freedoms we hold dear were snuffed out.

I’m sure everyone here is familiar with President Reagan’s speech at the Brandenburg Gate in June 1987, when he called out “Mr. Gorbachev” by name, and challenged him to “tear down this wall” between free West Berlin and imprisoned East Germany—a nightmare surveillance state, where no personal information was off limits to the government.

The FBI was deeply engaged in that struggle, tracking Soviet agents operating here in the United States and protecting our freedoms from a dangerous enemy. That era and that work are a huge part of the FBI’s legacy and history—a history that the library has captured so well in this exhibit. So I want to thank the library and John and the exhibit curators, Randle Swan, Jennifer Torres, Lauren Haisch-Edwards, Robert Zucca, and Derek Lyneis, for the great care you’ve taken in telling the FBI’s story. Thank you for the tour this afternoon, and thank you for showcasing our organization and our people, whom I’m humbled and proud to represent, and thank you for allowing me to join you here, this evening.

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