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By Josh Rogin
May 25, 2006
China is stepping up its information warfare and computer
network
attack capabilities, according to a Defense Department
report released
this week.
The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) is developing
information
warfare reserve and militia units and has begun
incorporating them
into broader exercises and training. Also, China is
developing the
ability to launch pre-emptive attacks against enemy computer
networks
in a crisis, according to the document, "Annual Report
to Congress:
Military Power of the People's Republic of China
2006."
The Chinese approach centers on using civilian computer
expertise and
equipment to enhance PLA operations, the DOD report states.
"During a military contingency, information warfare
units could
support active PLA forces by conducting "hacker
attacks" and network
intrusions, or other forms of "cyber" warfare,
on an adversary's
military and commercial computer systems, while helping to
defend
Chinese networks," according to the report. These
units would be
composed of computer experts from academies, institutes and
IT
industries, it states.
In 2005, the PLA began to incorporate offensive computer
network
operations into military exercises, with the goal of
developing first
strike capability, "The PLA considers active offense
to be the most
important requirement for information warfare to destroy or
disrupt an
adversary's capability to receive and process data,"
the report
states.
Computer Network Operations is an important part of the
Chinese
strategy to achieve electromagnetic dominance in any
conflict, and as
a force multiplier, according to the report. The PLA seeks
to combine
CNO with electronic warfare, kinetic strikes against C4
nodes, and
virus attacks on enemy systems, to form what PLA theorists
call
"Integrated Network Electronic Warfare," it
noted.
This year's DOD report on Chinese military modernization is
the latest
of six annual installments. Congress mandated the annual
reports in
the fiscal 2000 Defense authorization bill.
China has often criticized the reports as an attempt to
exaggerate its
military modernization and demonize China. A spokesman for
the Chinese
Foreign Ministry called this year's report an attempt to
spread the
China threat theory with a Cold War mentality, according to
the Xinhua
News Agency.
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