Against that backdrop, some American officials want to move quickly against Chinese intelligence operatives. American counterintelligence officials have more closely scrutinized the work of Chinese diplomats, journalists, scientists and others in the United States, though some critics have denounced this as a new “red scare.” In September, the United States secretly expelled two employees of the Chinese Embassy in Washington who had been caught driving on a sensitive military base in Virginia with their wives; it appeared to be the first expulsion of Chinese diplomats accused of espionage in more than 30 years.

Any expulsion of Chinese employees at media outlets accused of conducting intelligence work could include ones based at the United Nations, where China has a permanent seat on the Security Council, according to an intelligence official familiar with the plans. Most Chinese employees of state-run organizations work in Washington for large organizations.

Some Chinese intelligence operatives pose as journalists at those agencies and at smaller state-run outlets, using “nonofficial cover,” in the parlance of spies, experts on Chinese espionage say. Some American officials have spoken of entirely shutting down those small outfits as well as any Chinese organization or company accused of being a front for intelligence work.

American officials declined to estimate the number of Chinese intelligence operatives in the United States they say use journalism employment as a cover or the number they would like to expel.

The F.B.I. referred questions to the State Department, which said it does not comment on intelligence matters. The Chinese Embassy did not reply to a request for comment.

American intelligence officials have long asserted that many Chinese journalists abroad play a hybrid role in which they not only provide reports for publications and broadcasters in China, but also give information to Beijing’s intelligence apparatus.

The action now under consideration would try to avoid evicting most of those who play a hybrid role and focus more on people the U.S. government believes are mainly spies, according to intelligence officials. The journalistic reports filed by those Chinese citizens are simply a screen for covertly collecting intelligence, the officials said.