Confronting Communist China

There were two important hearings on Capitol Hill yesterday regarding cybersecurity. Most of the media focused on a Senate hearing into what social media companies are doing to our children.

Kudos to Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) for forcing Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to apologize to the parents in the hearing room.

But on the other side of the Capitol, members of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party heard disturbing testimony from top security officials about the growing threats from Beijing.

FBI Director Christopher Wray warned that communist China has prioritized cyberwarfare and that Chinese hackers outnumber FBI cybersecurity personnel by 50-to-1. Wray added, “Cyber threats to our critical infrastructure represent real-world threats to our physical safety.”

Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, elaborated on Wray’s remarks. Here’s how she described the threat we’re facing today:

“It is Chinese military doctrine to attempt to induce societal panic in their adversary. The Chinese government got a taste of this in the aftermath of the ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline in May of 2021 that shut down gas to the Eastern Seaboard for several days. [Americans] couldn't get to work. They couldn’t take their kids to school, get folks to the hospital. It caused a bit of panic.

“Now imagine that on a massive scale. Imagine not one pipeline, but many pipelines disrupted and telecommunications going down so people can’t use their cell phone. People start getting sick from polluted water. Trains get derailed. Air traffic control systems, port control systems are malfunctioning. This is truly an everything, everywhere all at once scenario.”

Everyone should watch Easterly’s testimony, especially many of the pro-China corporate apologists at the Chamber of Commerce!

Here’s another idea: Copy those quotes above. Give them to your neighbors and family members.  Help them understand the threats we are facing from communist China and why it is vital to have leaders who will aggressively confront these threats.