People’s Liberation Army’s Hacking of America’s Cyberspace will continue into 2020. Without much doubt, according to Richard Clarke, the Chinese stole the plans for the F-35 fighter plane by hacking into the Lockheed-Martin database in Silicon Valley. Software bombs could have been placed into the software of the F-22 Raptor and the Boeing 787.  However, Microsoft, Intel, Oracle, Cisco, Yahoo, and Google all set up training programs for Chinese knowledge workers who could work in China or simply be outsourced to Silicon Valley to learn more about the complexity of systems and how to hack them.

In 2015, as President Obama was bowing, shaking hands, and giving a red carpet welcome for China’s Xi Jinping, Chinese hackers were attempting to enter a Silicon Valley technology firm and a pharmaceutical firm.  As reported on October 19, 2015, “The firm, CrowdStrike Inc., …announced that unnamed customers in the technology and pharmaceutical industries have faced attempted—though unsuccessful—intrusions from China-linked hackers. Beginning in 2001, the Chinese PLA began planning and training Chinese students to gain a “technology innovation edge” without honoring patents or paying royalties. “Beijing-linked hackers have sought to pilfer their trade secrets from corporate computers.” Crowdstrike stated that Deep Panda is one of the many alleged Chinese Hacking groups. “Investigators at other security companies and within the U.S. government say they agree that Deep Panda appears to be working on behalf of the Chinese government, even though they don’t necessarily agree with CrowdStrike’s assessment of the recent activity.”

Digital warfare is now a reality for the U.S. government and the U.S. Department of Defense.

The USA’s Cyber Command’s mission is to protect the assets of the Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is to protect the Government.  The Department of Defense has sixteen locations with intranet connections to the public internet. Intranet is a local or restricted communications network, especially a private network created using World Wide Web software. On September 29, 2015, Admiral Michael S. Rogers, commander, U.S. Cyber Command and director, National Security Agency/Chief, Central Security Service spoke before the US Senate Committee on Armed Services, “In line with the DoD Cyber Strategy, USCYBERCOM and its components perform three primary missions. First, we are responsible for securing, operating, and defending Department of Defense systems and networks, which are fundamental to the execution of all Department of Defense missions. Second, the Department of Defense and the nation rely on us to build ready cyber forces and to prepare to conduct cyber operations to deter or defeat strategic threats to the nation. Third, we work with the Combatant Commands to integrate cyber operations into broader military missions. Our military is already engaged in cyberspace. Potential adversaries scan DoD networks for vulnerabilities millions of times daily. As we have repeatedly seen, vulnerability in one place can be a weakness across an entire network and systems built as “administrative” networks are now on the front lines of our operations. This reality has serious implications for our nation’s security, as well as for our military.”  United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) is one of nine Unified Combatant Commands of the United States Department of Defense. With a budget beyond five billion dollars, USSTRATCOM is tasked to provide strategic deterrence, space operations, and cyberspace operations in our nation’s defense. The Department of Defense has a solid Policy and Programs to Counter Threats to the United States from Terrorism and Irregular Warfare, but are they working or will they work. In 2016, Cyber-attacks continue at a very high daily rate. Silicon Valley continues to use (unknowingly) outsourced PLA “software engineers.”