Senior research associate Emile Dirks spoke with Domino Theory about Xi Jinping’s view of national security in light of U.S. and Israeli cyber operations in Iran.

Part of Xi’s strategy upon gaining power was to institute far-reaching security reforms. He was “trying to discipline the party itself, trying to discipline Chinese society and adopting a much more broad vision of what constitutes national security,” Dirks says.

“I don’t think the fact that this is going on is fundamentally changing the risk calculus of Xi Jinping when it comes to the problem of foreign spies or domestic unrest,” says Dirks.