US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel says he has forged new law enforcement partnerships with China and Russia, two longtime U.S. rivals, over the past year in hopes of gaining allies in combating transnational crime including fentanyl, cyber fraud, and child sexual exploitation, Reuters reports ( https://www.reuters.com/world/china/under-patel-fbi-forges-unprecedented-law-enforcement-ties-with-china-russia-2026-08-05/ ).

The partnerships have involved personnel exchanges in which Chinese law enforcement officials have visited the United States and FBI agents have traveled to China to work on cases together and share intelligence. Separately, FBI and Chinese officers have carried out joint raids and arrests under the arrangement.

Patel returned from a trip to Beijing in late July, and a similar trip to Russia has been tentatively planned for October, according to FBI officials.

Patel described the FBI's initiatives with what he called "non-traditional partners" as selective and limited to specific types of transnational crimes such as global child pornography networks and cyber scam centers.

“They are both new and dynamic relationships, and ⁠we are extremely mindful of their adversarial approach on many matters," Patel said. "They are not going to stop, but if we can go and have wins for America, then we must engage.”

"Every month, they send their working-level MPS officers here, and the following month we go there," Patel said. "They are speaking with us daily, which has also never happened before."

Patel said information exchanges are narrow in scope and limited to the four types of transnational crime where intelligence sharing is reciprocal.

"Unlike military and traditional intelligence agencies, we have a unique lane to drive this dynamic change with law enforcement, which is an apolitical mission," he noted.