Retired US general fires warning about China’s latest moves: “They’ve gotten very, very good”

General Tim Haugh spent 33 years in Air Force Intelligence. He knows the ins and outs of classified, confidential, and top-secret reports. In 2024, he was promoted to head of the National Security Agency (NSA), the largest spy agency in the United States, and of Cyber Command.

In his first televised interview since retirement (if one can disconnect from a reality that few people know about), he warned that China may have already hacked American computer networks on an astonishing scale. He warned that China isn’t just targeting the US military and industry, but also Americans in their homes.

“They targeted water. They targeted electrical power infrastructure; transportation are examples of the types of things that were targeted. And in many cases they’re vulnerable,” he said. “That the fact that they would go after basic services as part of their effort that they have identified as unrestricted warfare is unconscionable”.

China targeting crucial infrastructure in several countries

Multiple utility intrusions were discovered in 2023, and China had been in some of its computer networks for at least five years.

Haugh adds: “They are certainly attempting every single day to be able to target telecommunications, to be able to target critical infrastructure, both in the United States and in other countries. And they are doing that to try to ensure that they have an advantage in a crisis or a conflict. There was no other reason to target those systems. There’s no advantage to be gained economically. There was no foreign intelligence-collection value. The only value would be for use in a crisis or a conflict.”

Other critical infrastructures believed to have been targeted by China for years include the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority, 13 natural gas pipeline operators, the Port of Houston, and major telephone companies. “They’ve become very, very good at cyber operations,” Haugh concedes.

Today, Tim Haugh works as a professor at Yale and advises private industry, but he finds himself on the sidelines of government as China expands its aggressive piracy, espionage, and intellectual property theft.

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