The Ben Armstrong Show: FBI, CISA directors warn about China’s readiness to attack U.S. infrastructure

02/09/2024 / By Kevin Hughes

Podcaster Ben Armstrong has discussed warnings by government officials about China’s readiness to attack America’s infrastructure.

“China is ready to attack our infrastructure – that is the warning that we’re getting today,” he said during the Feb. 1 edition of “The Ben Armstrong Show.” The journalist continued: “Today, they could do it, warn our FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] and CISA [Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency] directors.”

According to him, Congress has seriously covered Beijing’s threat against the U.S., and so do America’s intelligence agencies. However, the latter aren’t going to the full length of what is about to happen.

Armstrong then played a video clip of FBI Director Christopher Wray talking about China’s cyber threat during a recent hearing of the House of Representatives. According to Wray, the threat posed by Beijing under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is a multi-pronged assault on America’s national and economic security – making it the defining threat of the present generation. (Related: Cybersecurity official warns: Americans must prepare for CYBERATTACKS from Chinese hackers.)

The FBI director lamented the little public focus on the Chinese hackers targeting America’s critical infrastructure such as water treatment plants, electrical grids, oil and natural gas pipelines and transportation systems. The risk such attacks pose to every American requires immediate attention, he added.

“Chinese hackers are positioning on American infrastructure in preparation to wreak havoc and cause real-world harm to American citizens and communities if and when China decides the time has come to strike,” Wray told lawmakers.

According to Armstrong, Wray is admitting that the U.S. doesn’t have the ability to stop China’s cyberattack. He clarified that the FBI director isn’t saying that America is capable of thwarting the cyber threat, but that China is 100 percent in control whether they push through with it or not. “The truth is: Christoper Wray is telling you – if China wants to do it, they can do it tomorrow,” remarked the journalist with the New American magazine.

Wray: Chinese hackers outnumber American hackers 50-to-1

Aside from this, Wray also disclosed to lawmakers that China has a bigger hacking program than every major nation combined. “In fact – if you took every single one of the FBI cyber agents and intelligence analysts and focus them exclusively on the China threat, Chinese hackers would still outnumber FBI cyber personnel by at least 50 to one,” he said.

CISA Director Jen Easterly also remarked during the same House committee hearing that her agency has long been focused on the cyber threat from China. She mentioned that America has seen a deeply concerning evolution in China’s targeting of U.S. critical infrastructure. In particular, Easterly cited Chinese cyber actors like the Volt Typhoon group, which are burrowing deep into the country’s critical infrastructure to enable destructive attacks in the event of a major crisis or conflict.

“This is a world where a major crisis halfway across the planet could well endanger the lives of Americans here at home through the disruption of our pipelines, the severing of our telecommunications, the pollution of our water facility, the crippling of our transportation modes, all to ensure that they can incite societal panic and chaos, and to deter our ability to marshal military might and civilian wealth,” the CISA director remarked.

She also mentioned CISA teams have found and eradicated Chinese intrusions in multiple critical infrastructure sectors including aviation, water, energy and transportation using information from government and industry partners.

Follow CyberWar.news for more stories about China’s cyber threat in America.

Watch Ben Armstrong’s commentary about the warnings issued by Wray and Easterly about China’s readiness to launch a cyber attack on U.S. infrastructure below.

This video is from The New American channel on Brighteon.com.