Contact: Jessica Mancari (202) 225-6365

Forbes: “In Face of Chinese Cyber Attacks, U.S. is Losing”
Forbes Calls on House Armed Services Committee to Hold Hearing on U.S. Cyber Security

Share This Page Slashdot Del.icio.us Google Digg Reddit Newsvine Furl Yahoo Facebook

Washington, Apr 19 - In response to increasing reports of critical threats and malicious attacks on U.S. cyber networks, Congressman J. Randy Forbes (VA-04) announced today that he sent a letter to Chairman Ike Skelton of the House Armed Services Committee requesting a hearing to investigate the impact of cyber attacks originated from foreign nations, such as China, on the United States military.

“The United States is more dependent on our computer systems than any other country – from military readiness to transportation and energy grids to banking systems to national security operations to civilian infrastructure – and yet, we are being infiltrated every single day. The alarming truth is this: when it comes to cybersecurity, the United States is losing. This weakness leaves us vulnerable to threats emanating around the world,” said Forbes.

Over the past several years, China has been the point of origin for a barrage of malicious and damaging cyber attacks targeting defense-related information. In 2007, the Office of the Secretary of Defense was compelled to shut down its computer information systems for more than a week in order to defend against infiltration attempts that were found to be coming from China. Those 2007 attacks resulted in the loss of 10 terabytes of information – an amount comparable to the contents of the entire Library of Congress, according to U.S. intelligence officials in a report by National Public Radio.

The Director of National Intelligence has said U.S. efforts to defend against cyberattacks are not strong enough, despite the fact that malicious cyberactivity is growing at an unprecedented rate.

“It is not enough to simply promise to deter and protect our national systems; we need to have a whole-of-government and state-of-the art strategic cyberdefense plan,” said Forbes. “I am hopeful that this hearing will draw attention not only to the need for a plan that augments our defensive capabilities, but an understanding of the resources necessary to get us there.”

A full copy of the letter requesting the hearing is available here.

Congressman Forbes is Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee and Chairman of the Congressional China Caucus. The bipartisan Congressional China Caucus was established by Forbes in 2005 with the purpose of regularly investigating China’s global reach and the consequences of its growing international, economic, and political influence on U.S. interests. Information on the Caucus is available here.

###