China's battle plan for attacking US technology

Bill Gertz:

China’s People’s Liberation Army is preparing to destroy U.S. computer and network infrastructure in future attacks and knock out satellites with microwave pulses, according to recently translated Chinese military writings.

A senior colonel in the General Staff Fourth Department—the cyber warfare and electronic spying section known as 4PLA—wrote in one article that Chinese electronic network attack plans call for a “system of systems” destruction plan.

U.S. cyber warfare combat capability “forms a great threat for our military in terms of carrying out joint campaigns and operations, and especially information operations,” wrote Col. Lin Shishan.

“In this regard, we must establish the information combat concept of ‘attack and destruction of system of systems,’ and from the point of view of structural resistance, regard information systems of the main opponent as a whole, look for crucial points in the architecture which will serve as precise attack targets of information operations in order to break the balance of their architecture, paralyze the work of the systems, and reach the goal of weakening and suppressing their ability to obtain information superiority,” Lin wrote in the Beijing journal “New Century and New Age.”

A second article in a Chinese military journal revealed new details on how China’s military is set to conduct high-power microwave attacks against satellites in space.

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To destroy satellites, microwaves are fired in pulses and enter them through antennae, cables, or slots; once inside, they destroy electronic and other components, the Chinese article states.

“When the power or energy reaches a certain level of magnitude, it would interfere with the internal electronic equipment or components, rendering them unable to function normally, or even burning the semi-conductor components and integrated circuit of the electronic equipment,” the article says.

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There is much more.

We will need to shield our satellites and other systems to resist such attacks and develop systems that can counterattack against the threats.  It is not clear that this administration is willing to invest in such systems, because of the massive cuts to defense spending they are imposing.