Back to Home11/19/2025, 5:31:32 PM

A Chinese firm bought an insurer for CIA agents

bookofjoe
39 points
8 comments

Mood

thoughtful

Sentiment

mixed

Category

politics

Key topics

geopolitics

China-US relations

intelligence agencies

Debate intensity60/100

A Chinese firm acquired an insurance company that provides liability insurance to CIA agents, sparking discussions on geopolitics, asset forfeiture, and trust in government agencies.

Snapshot generated from the HN discussion

Discussion Activity

Light discussion

First comment

42m

Peak period

5

Hour 1

Avg / period

2.7

Comment distribution8 data points

Based on 8 loaded comments

Key moments

  1. 01Story posted

    11/19/2025, 5:31:32 PM

    2h ago

    Step 01
  2. 02First comment

    11/19/2025, 6:14:00 PM

    42m after posting

    Step 02
  3. 03Peak activity

    5 comments in Hour 1

    Hottest window of the conversation

    Step 03
  4. 04Latest activity

    11/19/2025, 7:45:14 PM

    21m ago

    Step 04

Generating AI Summary...

Analyzing up to 500 comments to identify key contributors and discussion patterns

Discussion (8 comments)
Showing 8 comments
chris_va
1h ago
1 reply
Geopolitics discussion question...

As a corollary, would the ~$1T of (mostly?) state-backed investments into the developed world then imply a fairly large exposure to potential asset forfeiture/freezing in the event of a Taiwan invasion (analogous to the ~$300B in Russian assets frozen pending Ukraine)?

FridayoLeary
1h ago
People assume China is an incredibly smart entity who won't make major errors like Western nations do, when everything we know tells us authoritarian regimes are more incompetent. I don't think it's so deep. They are an economic superpower with deep pockets and are not averse to taking huge risks. So far it's going their way. Another thing is that they can break half the world in a couple of months if they like. They even did it once already by accident.
monerozcash
1h ago
2 replies
CIA gets insurance for their agents? That seems rather bizarre.

This seems to be specifically about liability insurance. If I'm for example a Chinese government employee working for the CIA, what kind of liability will this insurance cover?

mmh0000
1h ago
1 reply
There’s literally insurance for everything you can think of. There’s even insurance for insurance!

It’s not a bad deal for either side. The CIA doesn’t have to pay if an agent does something naughty and the insurance company gets a standard income.

Just wait until you hear about employers taking out life insurance policies on their employees.

https://clark.com/insurance/has-your-employer-taken-out-life...

monerozcash
1h ago
> The CIA doesn’t have to pay if an agent does something naughty and the insurance company gets a standard income.

But CIA agents are kind of inherently doing something naughty, and the CIA doesn't have to pay either way.

Who would the insurer be paying? The Chinese government? I don't think a Chinese CIA agent would be facing any meaningful financial liability if caught.

MrMorden
21m ago
Standard FEPLI but also any USG employee stationed overseas needs the usual set of insurance policies, and specialist providers are familiar with the applicable laws (e.g., their computers don't insist on a local driver's license when there's a treaty allowing the subscriber to use their home country's).

https://www.clements.com/personal/foreign-service-insurance/

zrn900
48m ago
I trust China more than I trust any US government agency. It was the US who was doing 'rendition flights' to kidnap random countries' citizens and then torture them nonstop. Some of those kidnapped still havent been released after 20 years.
wagwang
1h ago
This is the funniest headline I've seen all month
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ID: 45982262Type: storyLast synced: 11/19/2025, 8:05:53 PM

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