Newt Threatens China and Russia With Cyberwar

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http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/01/newt-goes-to-cyberwar/

By Noah Shachtman
Danger Room
Wired.com
January 25, 2012

Newt Gingrich isn=E2=80=99t the only politician who=E2=80=99s freaked out=
 by China and=20
Russia=E2=80=99s online spying. But the new Republican presidential front=
runner=20
may be the highest-profile political figure all but openly calling for=20
cyberwar with Moscow and Beijing.

=E2=80=9CI think that we have to treat state-based covert activities as t=
he=20
equivalent of acts of war,=E2=80=9D Gingrich said in response to a questi=
on=20
about countries that target U.S. corporate and government information=20
systems. =E2=80=9CAnd I think that we have to respond to that and create =
a level=20
of pain which teaches people not to do it.=E2=80=9D

American officials have grown increasingly concerned about massive and=20
strategic efforts by China and Russia to use U.S. network=20
vulnerabilities to steal American know-how. =E2=80=9CTrade secrets develo=
ped=20
over thousands of working hours by our brightest minds are stolen in a=20
split second and transferred to our competitors,=E2=80=9D Robert Bryant, =
the=20
national counterintelligence executive, said in November. Sen. Sheldon=20
Whitehouse, who chaired a classified task force on the subject, called=20
it =E2=80=9Cthe biggest transfer of wealth through theft and piracy in th=
e=20
history of mankind.=E2=80=9D

But most American policymakers have been reluctant to publicly entertain=20
the idea of attacking China or Russia in response to that economic=20
espionage. The U.S. is trying to work with Moscow and Beijing to corral=20
rogue states from Iran to North Korea. The three countries already share=20
information on terror threats. Most importantly, the economies of the=20
three nations are rather deeply intertwined, which means an overt online=20
attack could harm more than just the intended target.

[...]


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