Cyber Espionage

I suppose that we are past the hay day of the cloak and dagger spy working on the ground to infiltrate an enemy instillation. Today's spies are more like a guy alone in a room with a computer attempting to gain access to the sensitive information. Two Congressmen claim that Chinese hackers have broken into Congressional computers. Congressman Frank Wolf from Virginia states that four of his computers were compromised, beginning in 2006. New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith, a senior Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said two of his computers were attacked, in December 2006 and March 2007. Chinese espionage has become a serious security risk for us here in the United States. In "A Serious Threat", I wrote that Chinese espionage has become our biggest counterintelligence problem. Government Officials say there is an intense effort by the Chinese government to steal U.S. Government and industrial secrets. It is also reported that we are having some difficulties countering the Chinese threat. There are many challenges confronting our Nation at home and abroad. With the economic crisis and the war on terrorism, I feel that the issue of Chinese espionage is getting lost in the shuffle. Although we are juggling many issues, we must keep all of the balls in the air and crack down on the Chinese security threat.