The breathtaking scope of China’s Salt Typhoon telecommunications hack underscores that the United States is engaged in a geo-tech war with Beijing.
This incident was one of the most devastating telecom breaches in US history: Chinese hackers penetrated critical US national security networks, vacuuming up sensitive data from millions of users and accessing wiretap systems that potentially compromised investigations.
This “all-out assault on US communications systems” has exposed fundamental vulnerabilities in US digital infrastructure, highlighting how gaps in our secure infrastructure and technology have left us more open to foreign threats.
US computer and telecom networks will be a prime battlefield in any future war with China. In a sense, that conflict has already arrived.
The Core Tech Sector: Critical Battleground
Salt Typhoon is part of a broader pattern of China’s activity directed at critical infrastructure, with a slew of cyberattacks apparently enabled by China-based TP-Link.
TP-Link is the bestselling router on Amazon and widely used, including by federal national security agencies. The Defense, Justice, and Commerce Departments have opened probes into the company following calls to ban the sale of TP-Link routers in the US.
Fortifying the American “core tech” sector is essential to safeguarding our digital and national security.
This sector serves as the backbone of US digital infrastructure and includes essential technologies like large-scale computing, semiconductors, and networking.
This often-overlooked networking space has become a critical arena of vulnerability, particularly as the industry looks toward 6G development and quantum-secure communications.
Shoring Up Defenses in Telecom, IT Networking
To shore up defenses, policymakers must more robustly support our telecom and IT networking technology companies.
We need policies that make it easier for US networking and telecom companies to compete globally, including against Chinese telecom giant Huawei, which receives tens of billions of dollars from Beijing’s state-backed banks and commands a large share of the global telecom equipment and wireless access points markets.
Optimal measures would include creating robust incentive structures that attract top talent, supporting cutting-edge research at national laboratories and universities, and developing end-to-end supply chains that reduce dependence on foreign manufacturers.
The US government must also support key start-up and strategic merger and acquisition activity that bolsters our homegrown tech ecosystem.
Differentiating Core Tech From Big Tech
The new Trump administration understands that the tech sector is not a monolith. Its nuanced approach differentiates America’s core technology sector from Big Tech companies whose business models revolve around content, advertising, user engagement, and consumer-facing applications.
America’s core technology providers operate in a fundamentally different realm. They build and maintain the critical digital infrastructure that underlies and enables our modern economy and national security apparatus.
American networking companies develop the hardware, software, and systems that enable secure government and corporate communications, power our military’s cyber capabilities, protect our financial systems, and ensure the reliable operation of everything from power grids to water supplies.
Call for Prioritizing Digital Security
Our fight for digital security should be a top priority for the Trump administration.
National policies must support stronger American companies capable of developing complete, integrated networking solutions, while also setting the conditions for innovation and competition throughout the core tech ecosystem.
The technological infrastructure we build today will define our capabilities for decades to come — and determine whether our society, including our nation’s most critical institutions, can fend off the next Chinese cyber onslaught.
Richard Weitz is a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute specializing in great power competition.
His most recent book is The New China-Russia Alignment: Critical Challenges to U.S. Security.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of The Defense Post.
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