China hacking has infiltrated our major infrastructure

Modern warfare is no longer just bullets and bombs. The biggest threat to America is not an invasion. Our biggest threat is already inside our borders — embedded in our infrastructure — water, energy, aviation, and more.

These silent sleeper cells are hiding in computer networks that power our electric grid, protect our drinking water, operate our hospitals, distribute our fuel, move our cargo, connect our communications, and safeguard the data of millions of American families.

Right now, there is “sleeper cell” malware on critical infrastructure across America. Access is periodically tested, but to the company, it just looks like an employee logging in. And this multilayer system is ready to act on command — to launch chaos at the touch of a button.

For years, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has pursued a long-term strategy of cyber espionage against the United States and its breadth is staggering. The war has already begun. Most Americans simply haven’t realized it yet. This is not tomorrow’s threat. It’s today’s reality.

Send your urgent faxes to Congress. We have three bills in Congress now to fight back against this threat. But Congress needs to act swiftly and fully pass H.R. 2659, the Strengthening Cyber Resilience Against State-Sponsored Threats Act; H.R. 7208, the PROTECT the Grid Act; and S. 1778, the Countering Chinese Espionage Reporting Act. These bills launch critical protections from this threat now.

The facts are not in dispute. A former FBI director had this sobering observation: “There are two kinds of big companies in the United States. There are those who've been hacked by the Chinese and those who don't know they've been hacked by the Chinese."

The cyber campaign against America is not limited to one industry or one government agency. According to cybersecurity experts and former intelligence officials, it reaches across nearly every part of American life:

• Military technology, intellectual property, and trade secrets that took Americans decades to develop.

• Critical infrastructure, including communications networks, transportation systems, energy facilities, and water systems.

• Harvesting enormous amounts of personal and corporate data that can be exploited for intelligence, influence, or future cyber operations. One example of this is the 220 million voter registration and affiliation records stolen by China that President Trump just exposed last week.

• Expanding cyber capabilities that could be used during a future international crisis to disrupt essential services Americans depend upon every day.

• Targeting universities, research institutions, defense contractors, and private businesses whose innovations strengthen America’s economy and national security. Former National Security Agency Director Keith Alexander described this theft of our patents and trade secrets as “the greatest transfer of wealth in history.”

This isn’t ordinary espionage. It is strategic. Patient. Calculated.

Congress must act before our nation is brought to its knees through a coordinated cyberattack that has the potential to kill millions of people.

With China, it started out as surveillance. Then it quickly grew into stealing trade secrets and design blueprints. Experts estimate it costs America about 600 billion dollars every year — roughly 4,600 dollars for every man, woman, and child in our nation.

But it didn’t stop there. Now it is hidden code waiting in critical infrastructure ready to be activated upon command. China’s digital access could become a crippling geopolitical weapon with the click of a button.

Our food supply could be disrupted, water system poisoned, cell phones and internet silenced, gas stations emptied, hospital records deleted, FAA communication disrupted, pipelines exploded, and the list goes on.

Liberty Counsel Action is committed to educating citizens, mobilizing grassroots action, and pressing lawmakers to defend our nation’s security and constitutional freedoms. But we cannot continue this work without faithful supporters who understand what is at stake.

Urge Congress to act now. Pass H.R. 2659, H.R. 7208, and S. 1778 before it is too late to find and eliminate these computer threats.

The battlefield may have changed. But the responsibility to defend America has not.

Will you make a generous recurring or one-time gift today to help Liberty Counsel Action investigate these growing threats, educate Americans, and urge Congress to act with courage and resolve before today’s silent attacks turn into tomorrow’s national emergency?

In the coming days, we’ll share even more about how this cyber campaign has evolved — and why America’s critical infrastructure may be the next target.

Mat Staver, Chairman
John Stemberger, President
Liberty Counsel Action