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Atlantic
a day ago
- Politics
- Atlantic
The Trojan Horse Will Come for Us Too
I stopped using my cellphone for regular calls and text messages last fall and switched to Signal. I wasn't being paranoid—or at least I don't think I was. I worked in the National Security Council, and we were told that China had compromised all major U.S. telecommunications companies and burrowed deep inside their networks. Beijing had gathered information on more than a million Americans, mainly in the Washington, D.C., area. The Chinese government could listen in to phone calls and read text messages. Experts call the Chinese state-backed group responsible Salt Typhoon, and the vulnerabilities it exploited have not been fixed. China is still there. Telecommunications systems aren't the only ones compromised. China has accessed enormous quantities of data on Americans for more than a decade. It has hacked into health-insurance companies and hotel chains, as well as security-clearance information held by the Office of Personnel Management. The jaded response here is All countries spy. So what? But the spectacular surprise attacks that Ukraine and Israel have pulled off against their enemies suggest just how serious such penetration can become. In Operation Spiderweb, Ukraine smuggled attack drones on trucks with unwitting drivers deep inside of Russia, and then used artificial intelligence to simultaneously attack four military bases and destroy a significant number of strategic bombers, which are part of Russia's nuclear triad. Israel created a real pager-production company in Hungary to infiltrate Hezbollah's global supply chains and booby-trap its communication devices, killing or maiming much of the group's leadership in one go. Last week, in Operation Rising Lion, Israel assassinated many top Iranian military leaders simultaneously and attacked the country's nuclear facilities, thanks in part to a drone base it built inside Iran. In each case, a resourceful, determined, and imaginative state used new technologies and data to do what was hitherto deemed impossible. America's adversaries are also resourceful, determined, and imaginative. Just think about what might happen if a U.S.-China war broke out over Taiwan. A Chinese state-backed group called Volt Typhoon has been preparing plans to attack crucial infrastructure in the United States should the two countries ever be at war. As Jen Easterly put it in 2024 when she was head of the Cyber and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), China is planning to 'launch destructive cyber-attacks in the event of a major crisis or conflict with the United States,' including 'the disruption of our gas pipelines; the pollution of our water facilities; the severing of our telecommunications; the crippling of our transportation systems.' The Biden administration took measures to fight off these cyberattacks and harden the infrastructure. Joe Biden also imposed some sanctions on China and took some specific measures to limit America's exposure; he cut off imports of Chinese electric vehicles because of national-security concerns. Biden additionally signed a bill to ban TikTok, but President Donald Trump has issued rolling extensions to keep the platform functioning in the U.S. America and its allies will need to think hard about where to draw the line in the era of the Internet of Things, which connects nearly everything and could allow much of it—including robots, drones, and cloud computing—to be weaponized. China isn't the only problem. According to the U.S. Intelligence Community's Annual Threat Assessment for this year, Russia is developing a new device to detonate a nuclear weapon in space with potentially 'devastating' consequences. A Pentagon official last year said the weapon could pose 'a threat to satellites operated by countries and companies around the globe, as well as to the vital communications, scientific, meteorological, agricultural, commercial, and national security services we all depend upon. Make no mistake, even if detonating a nuclear weapon in space does not directly kill people, the indirect impact could be catastrophic to the entire world.' The device could also render Trump's proposed 'Golden Dome' missile shield largely ineffective. Americans can expect a major adversary to use drones and AI to go after targets deep inside the United States or allied countries. There is no reason to believe that an enemy wouldn't take a page out of the Israeli playbook and go after leadership. New technologies reward acting preemptively, catching the adversary by surprise—so the United States may not get much notice. A determined adversary could even cut the undersea cables that allow the internet to function. Last year, vessels linked to Russia and China appeared to have severed those cables in Europe on a number of occasions, supposedly by accident. In a concerted hostile action, Moscow could cut or destroy these cables at scale. Terrorist groups are less capable than state actors—they are unlikely to destroy most of the civilian satellites in space, for example, or collapse essential infrastructure—but new technologies could expand their reach too. In their book The Coming Wave, Mustafa Suleyman and Michael Bhaskar described some potential attacks that terrorists could undertake: unleashing hundreds or thousands of drones equipped with automatic weapons and facial recognition on multiple cities simultaneously, say, or even one drone to spray a lethal pathogen on a crowd. A good deal of American infrastructure is owned by private companies with little incentive to undertake the difficult and costly fixes that might defend against Chinese infiltration. Certainly this is true of telecommunications companies, as well as those providing utilities such as water and electricity. Making American systems resilient could require a major public outlay. But it could cost less than the $150 billion (one estimate has that figure at an eye-popping $185 billion) that the House of Representatives is proposing to appropriate this year to strictly enforce immigration law. Instead, the Trump administration proposed slashing funding for CISA, the agency responsible for protecting much of our infrastructure against foreign attacks, by $495 million, or approximately 20 percent of its budget. That cut will make the United States more vulnerable to attack. The response to the drone threat has been no better. Some in Congress have tried to pass legislation expanding government authority to detect and destroy drones over certain kinds of locations, but the most recent effort failed. Senator Rand Paul, who was then the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and is now the chair, said there was no imminent threat and warned against giving the government sweeping surveillance powers, although the legislation entailed nothing of the sort. Senators from both parties have resisted other legislative measures to counter drones. The United States could learn a lot from Ukraine on how to counter drones, as well as how to use them, but the administration has displayed little interest in doing this. The massively expensive Golden Dome project is solely focused on defending against the most advanced missiles but should be tasked with dealing with the drone threat as well. Meanwhile, key questions go unasked and unanswered. What infrastructure most needs to be protected? Should aircraft be kept in the open? Where should the United States locate a counter-drone capability? After 9/11, the United States built a far-reaching homeland-security apparatus focused on counterterrorism. The Trump administration is refocusing it on border security and immigration. But the biggest threat we face is not terrorism, let alone immigration. Those responsible for homeland security should not be chasing laborers on farms and busboys in restaurants in order to meet quotas imposed by the White House.
Newsroom
2 days ago
- Politics
- Newsroom
The thinking way to win a war
It was supposed to be over by now, a three-day (at the most) blitz by Russia on its many-times smaller neighbour, an ego-boosting win for Vladimir Putin. But the war is now in its fourth year, with Russia occupying just under a fifth of Ukraine, and some out-of-the-box thinking from Ukrainians boosting morale in the beleaguered country. Today on The Detail, we talk about Operation Spiderweb, which destroyed planes deep into Russian territory; Russian retaliation; financing a conflict and who's winning, with the Telegraph's associate editor of defence Dom Nicholls. He reports every weekday for the Telegraph's award-winning podcast Ukraine: The Latest – and he says there's always plenty to say. 'There's so much going on. 'There's always something happening on the battlefield but as we've discovered over the last three years of doing this, there's just a great appetite around the world to learn about Ukraine's history, the culture, the people, the food, the politics. So we come at it from all angles.' Nicholls is former British Army and the podcast team makes sure they visit Ukraine at least three times a year, so they're not just sitting back and analysing from afar. So, who is winning? 'In the dark days of February/March 2022, just Ukraine existing as a sovereign entity, with an effective government still in power, a president that's alive, and a society that's supportive of the war effort … I think many people at the time would have said 'right, let's have that, that's what we want'. Well that's kind of where we are now. 'Currently about 19 percent of the country's held by Russia, and President Zelensky's been very clear that they're never just going to accept the loss of [those] eastern regions. So does that mean that they're losing? 'Well look at it the other way. Putin thought that he was going to be in Kyiv in days, weeks at most. By no means has he achieved his aims there. He's almost bankrupted his country, he's wiped out a generation of people who can no longer work in the factories of Russia and generate the income, so the question is about, 'Is this a war or is this the war?' 'Is this the war you break your country over to win? That question is now being pushed in the face of Vladimir Putin. 'If the answer's no … you might want to think twice about what's happening now, three years into this thing. 'You can see both sides are winning, and both sides are losing as well.' Also on The Detail, Nicholls talks about the differences between the Russian and Ukrainian mindsets when it comes to new ideas and carrying them out, as well as the effect that US President Donald Trump's attitude could have on the outcome of the war. Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here. You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter.
RNZ News
2 days ago
- Politics
- RNZ News
The thinking way to win a war
A rescuer works outside a residential building damaged as a result of Russian strikes in Kharkiv on March 27, 2024, amid Russian invasion in Ukraine. Photo: AFP / Sergey Bobok It was supposed to be over by now, a three-day (at the most) blitz by Russia on its many-times smaller neighbour, an ego-boosting win for Vladimir Putin. But the war is now in its fourth year, with Russia occupying just under a fifth of Ukraine, and some out-of-the-box thinking from Ukrainians boosting morale in the beleaguered country. Today on The Detail, we talk about Operation Spiderweb, which destroyed planes deep into Russian territory; Russian retaliation; financing a conflict; and who's winning with the Telegraph associate editor of defence Dom Nicholls. He reports every weekday for the Telegraph's award-winning podcast Ukraine: The Latest - and he says there's always plenty to say. "There's so much going on. "There's always something happening on the battlefield but as we've discovered over the last three years of doing this, there's just a great appetite around the world to learn about Ukraine's history, the culture, the people, the food, the politics. So we come at it from all angles." Nicholls is former British Army and the podcast team makes sure they visit Ukraine at least three times a year, so they're not just sitting back and analysing from afar. So, who is winning? "In the dark days of February/ March 2022, just Ukraine existing as a sovereign entity, with an effective government still in power, a president that's alive, and a society that's supportive of the war effort... I think many people at the time would have said 'right, let's have that, that's what we want'. Well, that's kind of where we are now. "Currently about 19 percent of the country's held by Russia, and President Zelensky's been very clear that they're never just going to accept the loss of [those] eastern regions. So does that mean that they're losing? "Well, look at it the other way. Putin thought that he was going to be in Kyiv in days, weeks at most. By no means has he achieved his aims there. He's almost bankrupted his country, he's wiped out a generation of people who can no longer work in the factories of Russia and generate the income, so the question is about, 'is this a war or is this the war?' "Is this the war you break your country over to win? That question is now being pushed in the face of Vladimir Putin. "If the answer's no... you might want to think twice about what's happening now, three years into this thing. "You can see both sides are winning, and both sides are losing as well." Also on The Detail, Nicholls talks about the differences between the Russian and Ukrainian mindsets when it comes to new ideas and carrying them out, as well as the effect that US President Donald Trump's attitude could have on the outcome of the war. Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here . You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter .
Al Jazeera
2 days ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Ukraine's daring drone assault forces Russia to shelter, relocate aircraft
Russia's increased sense of vulnerability may be the most important result of a recent large-scale Ukrainian drone attack named Operation Spiderweb, experts tell Al Jazeera. The operation destroyed as much as a third of Russia's strategic bomber fleet on the tarmac of four airfields deep inside Russia on June 1. Days later, Russia started to build shelters for its bombers and relocate them. An open source intelligence (OSINT) researcher nicknamed Def Mon posted time-lapse satellite photographs on social media showing major excavations at the Kirovskoe airfield in annexed Crimea as well as in Sevastopol, Gvardiyskoye and Saki, where Russia was constructing shelters for military aircraft. They reported similar work at several airbases in Russia, including the Engels base, which was targeted in Ukraine's attacks on June 1. Another OSINT analyst, MT Anderson, used satellite images to show that all Tupolev-95 strategic bombers had left Russia's Olenya airbase in the Murmansk region by June 7. Much of the fleet remains intact but Ukraine 'demonstrated to Russia that they do not have a sanctuary any more on their own territory', said Minna Alander, a fellow with the Transatlantic Defense and Security Programme at the Center for European Policy Analysis. 'In terms of taking the war to Russian territory, it was even more important than the Kursk incursion in the sense that Ukrainians managed to hit targets of high strategic value thousands of miles from the front lines.' Ukraine conducted a counterinvasion of Russian territory in August, catching forces in Kursk off-guard and seizing territory. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has consistently argued that the war must return to Russia. Both the Kursk offensive and Spiderweb served that purpose. For the first time, Ukraine with its Operation Spiderweb claimed to have hit the Olenya airbase in the Russian Arctic, almost 2,000km (1,240 miles) from Ukraine, where all Tu-95 bombers were reported destroyed. Also reportedly struck were the Belaya airbase in Irkutsk, more than 4,000km (2,485 miles) from Ukraine; the Dyagilevo airbase in Ryazan, only 175km (110 miles) from downtown Moscow; and the Ivanovo airfield, 250km (155 miles) northeast of Moscow, where a rare early warning and targeting coordination A-50 radar aircraft was destroyed. Russia had historically based its strategic bombers at the Engels base in Saratov and the Ukrainska base in Amur province. It dispersed them to Belaya and Olenya bases in the past two years to protect them after Ukraine struck the Engels base with drones. Now Ukraine has again deprived Russia of any sense of security. 'These strategic bomber strikes were 'asymmetric genius',' said Seth Krummrich, a former US army colonel and vice president of Global Guardian, a security consultancy. 'Cheap drones smuggled deep into Russia destroy priceless and rare Russian strategic bombers. Ukraine is outthinking and outmanoeuvring the slow and large Russian military.' Three days before Operation Spiderweb, Zelenskyy had said he was seeking more European investment in Ukraine's long-range capabilities. 'Of course, we cannot publicly disclose our existing plans and our capabilities, but the prospect is clear: to respond symmetrically to all Russian threats and challenges,' Zelenskyy said. 'They in Russia must clearly feel the consequences of what they are doing against Ukraine. And they will. Attack drones, interceptors, cruise missiles, Ukrainian ballistic systems – these are the key elements. We must manufacture all of them.' Ukraine has already changed Russian threat perceptions several times during this war using long-range weapons, often targeting the Russian air force. In 2023, Ukraine started striking Russian airfields in occupied Crimea, forcing Russia to relocate its bombers. An unnamed White House official told Politico last year that '90 percent of the planes that launch glide bombs' against Ukrainian front-line positions have been moved back inside Russia. Ukraine has dealt Russia similar psychological blows at sea. In 2022, it sank the Black Sea Fleet flagship Moskva using Neptune missiles. Its subsequent development of surface drones to strike other Russian Black Sea Fleet ships has forced the Russian navy to abandon Crimea for the shelter of Novorossiysk. In December, Ukraine adapted those surface drones to launch rockets, downing two Russian helicopters near Crimea. In early May, its Magura-7 unmanned surface drones successfully downed two Russian Sukhoi-30 fighter jets using AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles originally designed for air-to-air use. No military in the world had downed fighter jets from surface drones before. 'Russian missiles in many cases have ranges of thousands of miles. The bombers don't need to come anywhere near Ukraine to do what they do. The Arctic was a major base for attacking Ukraine even though they're thousands of kilometres from Ukraine,' said Keir Giles, Eurasia expert at the Chatham House think tank. Spiderweb involved 117 drones smuggled into Russia and launched simultaneously near Russian airfields where the bombers were parked. The drones used the Russian cellphone network but were controlled from Ukraine, Giles said. 'So they were piggybacking [on the radio network] and hiding in noise. They must have had people on site because they had an operational planning based in the country to assemble these components. … People were long gone by the time the operation happened, leaving poor, hapless Russian truck drivers trying to figure out what was going on,' he said. On June 11, Russian President Vladimir Putin put on a brave face, saying his country possesses the most modern nuclear triad in the world, but that may have been bluster rather than a threat, experts said. 'Ukraine likely destroyed the most operational segment of the fleet, evidenced by the fact that these aircraft were not undergoing maintenance at the time of the attack,' wrote Fabian Hoffman, a missile expert. 'Some were even fuelled when hit, indicating they were likely scheduled for use within the next 24 hours.' Will such strikes win the war? 'The cornerstone of this fight remains an infantryman's bullets, artillery shells, armour, and all the vehicles and transports logistically required to support a vast front line in a defensive war,' Krummrich said. 'Yes, drones significantly facilitate manoeuvre warfare in this conflict, but the drone does not win the fight.'
Miami Herald
4 days ago
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Russia Accuses UK of Sabotage Plans With US In ‘NATO Lake'
Russia has accused the U.K. of working with Ukraine in a plan to stage provocations involving a U.S. ship in the Baltic Sea. In a statement on Monday, Russia's foreign intelligence service (SVR) said it knew of a plot to escalate the conflict in Ukraine with an operation in what is termed a "NATO Lake" due to its location surrounded by alliance members. The statement provided no evidence for its claims and Moscow is often accused of pushing misinformation as a cover for its own activities. It comes as Nichita Gurcov, senior analyst for Europe & Central Asia with ACLED (Armed Conflict Location & Event Data) told Newsweek suspected Russian destabilization activities appear to be picking up again across Europe following a lull earlier in 2025. Newsweek has contacted the UK Foreign Office, the Ukrainian foreign ministry and the Pentagon for comment. The Baltic Sea has been dubbed the "NATO Lake" following the accession to the alliance of Sweden and Finland. Countries surrounding the body of water have accused Moscow of increasing sabotage acts in the region, and the warning by Russian intelligence could prompt concerns about further acts of aggression. The statement by Russian intelligence on Monday said the government of Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky intends to increase sabotage and terrorist activity against Russia to reverse problems faced by Kyiv's forces on the battlefield and counter war fatigue among the Ukrainian population. The statement said coordinated operations by Kyiv and its allies were behind attacks on railways in Russia's Bryansk and Kursk regions, as well as Ukraine's drone strikes on Russian airfields on June 1, dubbed Operation Spiderweb. Kyiv's upcoming plans, according to Russian intelligence, are to escalate the Ukrainian conflict, disrupt Russian-American negotiations and convince the White House of further military assistance to Kyiv. The SVR also said that the Security Service of Ukraine and the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense had been tasked with European special services "to intensify the preparation of a series of new bloody provocations." One proposed scenario would involve a Ukrainian-led plan to stage an alleged Russian torpedo attack on an unnamed U.S. Navy ship, which would explode at a "safe distance" and be blamed on Moscow. Another scenario would be a plan by Ukraine and the U.K. to work with unspecified northern European countries to find Russian-made anchor mines in the Baltic Sea, which they could blame Moscow for trying to sabotage international sea routes. The SVR statement gave no evidence for its claims, but it may raise concerns about Moscow's own intentions in the region. Ilja Iljin, a deputy commander of Finland's coast guard, told Politico in April the Baltic Sea has registered at least six suspected sabotage incidents since 2022, with 11 known undersea cables taken out since 2023 and tankers linked to Moscow accused of involvement. Meanwhile, Gurcov from ACLED told Newsweek Russian attempts at destabilization and targeting of countries supporting Ukraine had dropped earlier in 2025, possibly connected to Russian testing of the U.S.'s diplomatic pressure on Ukraine and its allies. But following this lull, there has been an increase in suspected Russian destabilization activities across Europe, which include incidents in the Baltic Sea. They also comprise arson and foiled sabotage plots. Armed Conflict Location & Event Data ACLED told Newsweek it recorded "at least seven incidents in May, including arson and foiled sabotage plots, in addition to increased tensions in the Baltic Sea." ACLED's analyst Nichita Gurcov said "as Ukrainian drones continue to strike deep into Russian territory, this increase in events is very likely to continue." Russia's foreign intelligence service (SVR): "(Kyiv) has become the perfect executor of vile provocations and terrorist attacks on behalf of 'perfidious Albion and happily do its dirty work." The Baltic Sea region is likely to remain on high alert for sabotage after a string of outages of power cables, gas pipelines, and telecoms. Gurcov said that an increase in Russian sabotage events in Europe "is very likely to continue," following what appears to be a loss of interest by the U.S. in negotiating an end to the war and as Ukrainian drones continue to strike into Russian territory. Related Articles Ukraine Delegates Storm Out Over Speech by Alexei Navalny's DaughterIsrael's Attack on Iran Sends Oil Prices Soaring in Boost for PutinRussia Feigns at Peace. Congress Must Sanction Putin's War Machine | OpinionMap Shows Ukraine's Crippling Strikes on Russia's Microchip Plants 2025 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.
