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The Threat Posed by China to America, Part 2

FBI Director Christopher Wray outlines the threat China poses to U.S. economic and national security. He delivered the review during a meeting with the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C.

Clandestine Efforts

As National Security Advisor O’Brien discussed in his June remarks, the Chinese government is also making liberal use of hacking to steal our corporate and personal data—and they’re using both military and non-state hackers to do it. The Equifax intrusion I mentioned just a few moments ago, which led to the indictment of Chinese military personnel, was hardly the only time China stole the sensitive personal information of huge numbers of the American public.

For example, did any of you have health insurance through Anthem or one of its associated insurers? In 2015, China’s hackers stole the personal data of 80 million of that company’s current and former customers.

Or maybe you’re a federal employee—or you used to be one, or you applied for a government job once, or a family member or roommate did. Well, in 2014, China’s hackers stole more than 21 million records from OPM, the federal government’s Office of Personnel Management.

Why are they doing this? First, China has made becoming an artificial intelligence world leader a priority, and these kinds of thefts feed right into China’s development of artificial intelligence tools.

Compounding the threat, the data China stole is of obvious value as they attempt to identify people for secret intelligence gathering. On that front, China is using social media platforms—the same ones Americans use to stay connected or find jobs—to identify people with access to our government’s sensitive information and then target those people to try to steal it.

Just to pick one example, a Chinese intelligence officer posing as a headhunter on a popular social media platform recently offered an American citizen a sizeable sum of money in exchange for so-called “consulting” services. That sounds benign enough until you realize those “consulting” services were related to sensitive information the American target had access to as a U.S. military intelligence specialist.

Now that particular tale has a happy ending: The American citizen did the right thing and reported the suspicious contact, and the FBI, working together with our armed forces, took it from there. I wish I could say that all such incidents ended that way.

Threats to Academia

It’s a troublingly similar story in academia.

Through talent recruitment programs like the Thousand Talents Program I mentioned just a few moments ago, China pays scientists at American universities to secretly bring our knowledge and innovation back to China—including valuable, federally funded research. To put it bluntly, this means American taxpayers are effectively footing the bill for China’s own technological development. China then leverages its ill-gotten gains to undercut U.S. research institutions and companies, blunting our nation’s advancement and costing American jobs. And we are seeing more and more of these cases.

In May alone, we arrested both Qing Wang, a former researcher with the Cleveland Clinic who worked on molecular medicine and the genetics of cardiovascular disease, and Simon Saw-Teong Ang, a University of Arkansas scientist doing research for NASA. Both of these guys were allegedly committing fraud by concealing their participation in Chinese talent recruitment programs while accepting millions of dollars in American federal grant funding.

That same month, former Emory University professor Xiao-Jiang Li pled guilty to filing a false tax return for failing to report the income he’d received through China’s Thousand Talents Program. Our investigation found that while Li was researching Huntington’s disease at Emory, he was also pocketing half a million unreported dollars from China.

In a similar vein, Charles Lieber, chair of Harvard’s Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, was indicted just last month for making false statements to federal authorities about his Thousand Talents participation. The United States has alleged that Lieber concealed from both Harvard and the NIH his position as a strategic scientist at a Chinese university—and the fact that the Chinese government was paying him, through the Wuhan Institute of Technology, a $50,000 monthly stipend, more than $150,000 in living expenses, and more than $1.5 million to establish a laboratory back in China.

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Malign Foreign Influence

There’s more. Another tool China and the Chinese Communist Party use to manipulate Americans is what we call malign foreign influence.

Now, traditional foreign influence is a normal, legal diplomatic activity typically conducted through diplomatic channels. But malign foreign influence efforts are subversive, undeclared, criminal, or coercive attempts to sway our government’s policies, distort our country’s public discourse, and undermine confidence in our democratic processes and values.

China is engaged in a highly sophisticated malign foreign influence campaign, and its methods include bribery, blackmail, and covert deals. Chinese diplomats also use both open, naked economic pressure and seemingly independent middlemen to push China’s preferences on American officials.

Just take one all-too-common illustration: Let’s say China gets wind that some American official is planning to travel to Taiwan—think a governor, a state senator, a member of Congress. China does not want that to happen, because that travel might appear to legitimize Taiwanese independence from China—and legitimizing Taiwan would, of course, be contrary to China’s “One China” policy.

So what does China do? Well, China has leverage over the American official’s constituents—American companies, academics, and members of the media all have legitimate and understandable reasons to want access to Chinese partners and markets. And because of the authoritarian nature of the Chinese Communist Party, China has immense power over those same partners and markets. So, China will sometimes start by trying to influence the American official overtly and directly. China might openly warn that if the American official goes ahead and takes that trip to Taiwan, China will take it out on a company from that official’s home state by withholding the company’s license to manufacture in China. That could be economically ruinous for the company, would directly pressure the American official to alter his travel plans, and the official would know that China was trying to influence him.

That would be bad enough. But the Chinese Communist Party often doesn’t stop there; it can’t stop there if it wants to stay in power—so it uses its leverage even more perniciously. If China’s more direct, overt influence campaign doesn’t do the trick, they sometimes turn to indirect, covert, deceptive influence efforts.

To continue with the illustration of the American official with travel plans that the Chinese Communist Party doesn’t like, China will work relentlessly to identify the people closest to that official—the people that official trusts most. China will then work to influence those people to act on China’s behalf as middlemen to influence the official. The co-opted middlemen may then whisper in the official’s ear and try to sway the official’s travel plans or public positions on Chinese policy. These intermediaries, of course, aren’t telling the American official that they’re Chinese Communist Party pawns—and worse still, some of these intermediaries may not even realize they’re being used as pawns, because they, too, have been deceived.

Ultimately, China doesn’t hesitate to use smoke, mirrors, and misdirection to influence Americans.

Similarly, China often pushes academics and journalists to self-censor if they want to travel into China. And we’ve seen the Chinese Communist Party pressure American media and sporting giants to ignore or suppress criticism of China’s ambitions regarding Hong Kong or Taiwan. This kind of thing is happening over and over, across the United States.

And I will note that the pandemic has unfortunately not stopped any of this—in fact, we have heard from federal, state, and even local officials that Chinese diplomats are aggressively urging support for China’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis. Yes, this is happening at both the federal and state levels. Not that long ago, we had a state senator who was recently even asked to introduce a resolution supporting China’s response to the pandemic.

The punchline is this: All of these seemingly inconsequential pressures add up to a policymaking environment in which Americans find themselves held over a barrel by the Chinese Communist Party.

The Report Concludes Tomorrow.

Photo: Chinese Fighter Jets (China Defence Ministry photo)

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Americans Warned not to use Chinese Cell Phones

An extraordinary example of the difficulties in America’s economic relations with China is being played out in the technology field, particularly concerning cell phones.

Business Insider reports that: “US senators warned that China is trying to gain access to sensitive U.S. technologies and intellectual properties through telecommunications companies, academia and joint business ventures. Chinese firms have come under greater scrutiny in the United States in recent years over fears they may be conduits for spying, something they have consistently denied.”

Writing for the Verge, James Vincent  reports that the heads of six major American intelligence agencies are advising U.S. citizens to not use products or services provided by Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE.

The problem has a lengthy history. In May 2017, a federal jury found that Huwaei engaged in industrial espionage within U.S. borders, and ordered the company to provide $4.8 million in damages to T-Mobile.

In 2012  The House Intelligence Committee “confirmed significant gaps in available information about the Chinese telecommunications sector, the histories and operations of specific companies operating in the United States, and those companies’ potential ties to the Chinese state. Most importantly, [a committee preliminary review] highlighted the potential security threat posed by Chinese telecommunications companies with potential ties to the Chinese government or military. In particular, to the extent these companies are influenced by the state, or provide Chinese intelligence services access to telecommunication networks, the opportunity exists for further economic and foreign espionage by a foreign nation-state already known to be a major perpetrator of cyber espionage. As many other countries show through their actions, the Committee believes the telecommunications sector plays a critical role in the safety and security of our nation, and is thus a target of foreign intelligence services. The Committee’s formal investigation focused on Huawei and ZTE, the top two Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturers, as they seek to market their equipment to U.S. telecommunications infrastructure.”

All the effects and side effects of the medicine are similar to online cialis soft and provides same level of relief. The professionals examine, and prescribe appropriate therapeutic sildenafil shop measures depending on the patient findings. It also improves size of the male organ and offers effective cure for inflamed prostate gland. generic viagra overnight This has been accepted as purchase viagra online the aspiration of man’s life is of great importance as well. In 2014 the FBI  charged five Chinese military hackers with illegally penetrating the computer networks of six U.S. victims. In a statement, the FBI noted that “It’s no secret that the Chinese government has blatantly sought to use cyber espionage to obtain economic advantage for its state-owned industries. Diplomatic efforts and public exposure have failed to curtail these activities. So we have taken the next step of securing an indictment of some of the most prolific hackers…These individuals are alleged to have used a variety of techniques, including e-mails that launched malicious software to steal proprietary and sensitive information from U.S. victims.”

Although reluctant to publicly announce the reasons, U.S. telecommunications companies are backing away from some relations with their Chinese counterparts. The Wall Street Journal  reported in January that AT&T “has walked away from a deal to sell smartphones made by Chinese electronics giant Huawei Technologies Co.”

In April, ZTE was hit with another charge by the U.S. Commerce Department, which announced that its “Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has imposed a denial of export privileges against Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment Corporation, of Shenzhen, China (“ZTE Corporation”) and ZTE Kangxun Telecommunications Ltd. of Hi-New Shenzhen, China (“ZTE Kangxun”) (collectively, “ZTE”). In March 2017, ZTE agreed to a combined civil and criminal penalty and forfeiture of $1.19 billion after illegally shipping telecommunications equipment to Iran and North Korea, making false statements, and obstructing justice including through preventing disclosure to and affirmatively misleading the U.S. Government.  In addition to these monetary penalties, ZTE also agreed a seven-year suspended denial of export privileges, which could be activated if any aspect of the agreement was not met and/or if the company committed additional violations of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR).”

In January, Rep. Mike Conway (TX-11) introduced H.R. 4747, The Defending U.S. Government Communications Act. This bill prohibits the U.S. government from purchasing or leasing telecommunications equipment and/or services from Huawei, ZTE, or any subsidiaries/affiliates thereof. Rep. Conway emphasized that “Chinese commercial technology is a vehicle for the Chinese government to spy on United States federal agencies, posing a severe national security threat… Allowing Huawei, ZTE, and other related entities access to U.S. government communications would be inviting Chinese surveillance into all aspects of our lives,,,This is an issue we’ve followed for years at the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI). The threat… is now reemerging as the Chinese government is reattempting to embed themselves into U.S. technology. This is extremely dangerous because the Chinese government is trying to compromise the integrity of U.S. businesses and spy on our closely held national security secrets.”

Photo credit: Pixabay

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The Real Cause of Navy Collisions? Part 2

The New York Analysis of Policy and Government concludes its examination of the real causes behind the recent deadly collisions of U.S. Navy ships.

A Heritage Foundation report notes: “A longstanding fear has been that cyber attacks against the U.S. might result in disruptions to power, banking, and communications systems at a critical moment. The cyber attacks on Estonia and Georgia, which disrupted commerce and communications, raise the specter that the U.S. might undergo the equivalent of a cyber Pearl Harbor. Efforts by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to improve verification capabilities highlight the limitations of current computer engineering skills in, for example, diagnosing cyber intrusions. Initial studies on the Trusted Integrated Circuit program, seeking to create a secure supply chain, were requested in 2007. As of late 2010, DARPA was still seeking new research proposals for determining whether a given chip was reliable, and whether it had been maliciously modified, as part of the Integrity and Reliability of Integrated Circuits (IRIS) program.

“A more recent worry is vulnerabilities “hardwired” into the physical infrastructure of the Internet. In the last several years, the FBI has warned that counterfeit computer parts and systems may be widespread. This can manifest itself in two ways: fake parts and systems, which may fail at dangerously higher rates, or contaminated systems that might incorporate hardwired backdoors and other security problems, allowing a foreign power to subvert a system. Similar problems have been identified by American allies; the U.K. has identified counterfeit parts entering into its military supply chain. Much cyber-related attention has been focused on the PRC. China is reportedly the source of many of the hacking efforts directed at U.S. military and security computer networks. Chinese computer infiltration has reputedly obtained access to such sensitive programs as F-35 design information.”

With the summer Olympics due to kick off in Beijing this August, all eyes will be turned to China and to on line levitra the sporting world. The rate shop viagra of incidence is higher in the quality. Anyhow more sildenafil pills has placed very well impact in positive to the curing of this disorder. levitra works in an excellent manner by curing it completely ensuring a 100% result to the consumer. Other than curing erectile dysfunction Vardenafil also helps in treating premature ejaculation, as it considerably increases the time-period cialis canadian prices between vaginal penetration and ejaculation, thus making your every sex session much better and last longer. In 2012, John Reed, in a Defense Tech article, noted: “For years, everyone has warned that counterfeit microchips made in China and installed on American military hardware could contain viruses or secret backdoors granting the Chinese military cyber access to  U.S. weapons systems. These warnings/predictions recently expanded beyond counterfeit parts, now we’re worried that any Chinese-made components could be infected…a scientist at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom claims to have developed a software program proving that China — and anyone else — can, and is, installing cyber backdoors on some of the world’s most secure, ‘military grade’microchips…Basically, Chinese cyber spies can gain use the chip’s built-in malware to decipher military passcodes and gain remote access to the chip and reprogram it to do their bidding; ‘permitting a new and disturbing possibility of a large-scale Stuxnet-type attack via a network or the Internet on the silicon itself,’ reads his report. The worst part, this backdoor, installed on chips used on critical weapons systems and public infrastructure around the word, is almost impossible to remove from the chip since, well, it was built into the device during manufacturing. That mean’s you can’t just issue a software patch to repair the vulnerability. The backdoor is close to impossible to fix on chips already deployed because, unlike software bugs in a PC Operating System, you cannot issue a patch to fix this. Instead one has to replace all the hardware which could be extremely expensive. It may simply be a matter of time before this backdoor opportunity, which has the potential to impact on many critical systems, isexploited.Having a security related backdoor on a silicon chip jeopardises any efforts of adding software level protection. This is because an attacker can use the underlying hardware to circumvent the software countermeasures.

USATODAY  reports that In 2013  a group of graduate students were able to successfully spoof an $80 million yacht’s GPS system, sending it hundreds of yards off course without the ship’s navigation system showing the change to the crew.

This may be precisely what China, using its Trojan Horse chips foolishly or unknowingly purchased by the Pentagon, may be doing to the U.S. Navy, intentionally causing collisions, perhaps as a warning to Washington to refrain from taking military action against Beijing’s client state, North Korea.

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The Real Cause of Navy Collisions?

The New York Analysis of Policy and Government examines the possible real cause behind the recent deadly collisions of U.S. Navy ships,  in this two-part study.

The recent series of collisions affecting U.S. Navy vessels may be the result of the use of Chinese (PRC) computer chips. The navigation systems of vessels have been shown to be vulnerable to computer hacking.

In 2011, Business Insider revealed that “…the U.S. Navy purchased 59,000 microchips for use in everything from missiles to transponders and all of them turned out to be counterfeits from China.”

Adam Rawnsley, writing in Wired reported: “The U.S. has been worried about its foreign-sourced chips in its supply chain for a while now. In a 2005 report, the Defense Science Board warned that the shift towards greater foreign circuit production posed the risk that ‘trojan horse’ circuits could be unknowingly installed in critical military systems. Foreign adversaries could modify chips to fizzle out early, the report said, or add secret back doors that would place a kill switch in military systems.”

An Information Age  analysis by Ben Rossi  in 2012 bluntly stated: “A microchip used by the US military and manufactured in China contains a secret ‘backdoor’ that means it can be shut off or reprogrammed without the user knowing, according to researchers at Cambridge University’s Computing Laboratory…Cambridge University researcher Sergei Skorobogatov wrote that the chip in question is widely used in military and industrial applications. The ‘backdoor’ means it is ‘wide open to intellectual property theft, fraud and reverse engineering of the design to allow the introduction of a backdoor or Trojan”

You might have not given a thought at least once about the process discount online viagra by which your penile organ becomes erect, until you experience having an erection issue. Spinal tumors can occur inside the cord or in the membranes purchase cheap cialis (meninges) covering the spinal cord . Acting as a stimulant for the online tadalafil body, which are offered with the Herbal Supplements. With all the generic erectile dysfunction medications available at The Cheapest Prices The price of the cheapest cheap viagra and kamagra has been the most effective part of their popularity. Atlantic  reports that “The U.S. miltary has known for quite some time that they have a quality control problem with the microchips they’ve been buying in China. A 2005 report from the Defense Science Board warned that in buying weapon circuitry overseas, “trojan horse” chips could find their way into American weapons, potentially prompting missiles to detonate early or computers to shut down in the event of an attack.”

We at the New York Analysis of Policy and Government have warned of this crisis for some time. Our latest report, presented in April, revealed that two years ago, one of America’s top military leaders, now retired, told this publication that he was “deeply concerned” over the Pentagon’s dependence on China for key computer chips.

The Alliance for American Manufacturing, in a recent report, warned that “America’s military communications systems increasingly rely on network equipment from China, putting our entire defense at risk. A 2012 House intelligence committee investigation, for example, found that the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei, which had been working to expand in the United States, posed a major threat to the U.S. because its equipment could be used to spy on Americans — as well as U.S. defense systems and companies. New America Foundation senior fellow Peter Singer warned military leaders in 2015 that ‘America’s most advanced fighter jets might be blown from the sky by their Chinese-made microchips and Chinese hackers easily could worm their way into the military’s secretive intelligence service.’ “Defense systems in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps all face major supply chain vulnerabilities. Take semiconductors, which have been central to U.S. military and economic strength over the past century. Semiconductors are used in the Army’s M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank, the Marine Corps’ F-35B Joint Strike Fighter and the Air Force’s F-35A Joint Strike Fighter, the Joint Director Attack Munition Precision Guidance Kit used by the Army and Marine Corps, and the communications systems for all four branches…the U.S. has faced a steady decline in semiconductor fabrication, which is increasingly happening in Asia. The U.S. share of semiconductor fabrication decreased from nearly 50 percent in 1980 to only 15 percent in 2012.”

In addition to the potential for spying or intentionally disabling U.S. military equipment , threats from defective equipment originating in China looms large. In 2011, Buck Sexton found that, according to U.S. Senate sources, “on 1,800 separate occasions, the U.S. military or contractors have purchased electronics materials for defense systems that were either fake or poorly recycled. In some cases, defective chips made their way into critical U.S. weapons and navigation systems. The examples could provide a serious wake-up call to defense contractors and others involved in the military supply chain…70 percent of them originated in China. Another 20% came from countries like Canada and the U.K. that resold Chinese parts to the U.S. Realistically, closer to 90% of faulty electronics in military equipment came from China…While the report focuses on unintentional threats to the military supply chain, the presence of shoddy Chinese electronics in thousands of devices and the apparent U.S. reliance on China for its national defense supply chain should concern all Americans.”

The Report concludes tomorrow.