Washington DC - Under FBI Director Kash Patel, the bureau has forged significant new "non-traditional" law enforcement partnerships with both China and Russia on numerous key issues.
In a series of exclusive interviews with Reuters, Patel said his FBI is working on collaborating with "non-traditional partners" such as China and Russia, especially on transnational crimes such as child pornography and cyber scam centers.
The move is differs from past administrations, which have generally avoided cooperating with governments seen as key US rivals.
One example of collaboration saw the FBI work with China's Ministry of Public Security (MPS) to raid a cyber scam center in Dubai and arrest 300 people, seizing $300 million and freeing thousands of trafficked workers.
"They are both new and dynamic relationships, and we are extremely mindful of their adversarial approach on many matters," Patel said of China and Russia.
"They are not going to stop, but if we can go and have wins for America, then we must engage."
Things have become increasingly friendly especially since President Donald Trump's visit to Beijing in May, which helped establish monthly working meetings between the FBI and the MPS.
"Every month, they send their working-level MPS officers here, and the following month we go there," Patel explained. "They are speaking with us daily, which has also never happened before."
When it comes to Russia, Patel said the FBI has been working behind-the-scenes for months on potentially collaborating on international criminal networks.
"This stuff doesn't happen overnight," he said. "We've been at this for 15 months."
Patel sought to reassure allies, however, that the FBI remains committed to maintaining its established intelligence relationships, particularly the Five Eyes partnership with Canada, Australia, the UK, and New Zealand.
"Five Eyes will always be our most important intelligence relationship. No one is trying to replace that," he clarified.