The top U.S. military officer has accused China of “theft” in cyber space, saying that cyber attacks on U.S. infrastructure or networks could be met with a conventional military response.
"China's particular niche in cyber has been theft and intellectual property," Army General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at the Brookings Institution think-tank on Thursday.
The top officer said cyber attacks on the U.S. would not necessarily prompt a response in the cyber and Washington may resort to a military counterattack in air, sea, space or land
“There is an assumption out there … that a cyber attack that had destructive effects would be met by a cyber response that had destructive effects, that’s not necessarily the case. I think that what [President Barack Obama] would insist upon, actually, is that he had the options and the freedom of movement to decide what kind of response we would employ.”
He said President Barack Obama insists on having a lot of options in case of a destructive cyber attack on the U.S., adding “the response could actually be in one of the other traditional domains."
The Pentagon in April directly accused China and its military for the first time of hacking the U.S. systems. Beijing denies the allegations.
The accusation and the threat come amid the uproar in the U.S over the recent revelations by a former contractor at the National Security Agency about America’s surveillance programs across the world.
Edward Snowden also disclosed that the U.S. is tapping into Chinese mobile carriers to access customers’ text messages.
“China should set up a national information security review commission as soon as possible,” Snowden told the South China Morning Post newspaper last week.
"China's particular niche in cyber has been theft and intellectual property," Army General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at the Brookings Institution think-tank on Thursday.
The top officer said cyber attacks on the U.S. would not necessarily prompt a response in the cyber and Washington may resort to a military counterattack in air, sea, space or land
“There is an assumption out there … that a cyber attack that had destructive effects would be met by a cyber response that had destructive effects, that’s not necessarily the case. I think that what [President Barack Obama] would insist upon, actually, is that he had the options and the freedom of movement to decide what kind of response we would employ.”
He said President Barack Obama insists on having a lot of options in case of a destructive cyber attack on the U.S., adding “the response could actually be in one of the other traditional domains."
The Pentagon in April directly accused China and its military for the first time of hacking the U.S. systems. Beijing denies the allegations.
The accusation and the threat come amid the uproar in the U.S over the recent revelations by a former contractor at the National Security Agency about America’s surveillance programs across the world.
Edward Snowden also disclosed that the U.S. is tapping into Chinese mobile carriers to access customers’ text messages.
“China should set up a national information security review commission as soon as possible,” Snowden told the South China Morning Post newspaper last week.
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