AP Photo
July 18, 2008
"China's Cyber Warriors"
Op-Ed, Balitmore Sun
By Eric Rosenbach, Executive Director for Research, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Tamara Klajn
Could the United States be under attack from China without Americans even really knowing it?
Last week, Republican Reps. Frank R. Wolf of Virginia and Christopher H. Smith of New Jersey announced that Chinese hackers had attacked their office computers. Mr. Wolf and Mr. Smith, very public critics of China's human rights record, noted that it was likely that in 2006, the hackers sought to steal information about Chinese dissidents and refugees who had sought assistance from members of Congress.
Skeptics have suggested that the politicians' announcement was most likely intended as good old-fashioned China-bashing. After all, the details of the incident were "old news" to the U.S. national security community. And even the casual observer of American politics knows that China is often the target of unwarranted populist attacks on Capitol Hill.
