Adm. Michael Rogers, director of the National Security Agency and head of U.S. Cyber Command, said Thursday that China and “one or two” other countries have the power to shut down the U.S. electric grid with cyberattacks.
The NSA chief made the statements while speaking to the House intelligence committee.
“All of that leads me to believe it is only a matter of when, not if, we are going to see something dramatic,” Adm. Rogers said, The Associated Press reported.
U.S. offensive capabilities that would deter China and other nations from making such a move were not discussed at the hearing.
“You can literally do almost anything you want [in cyberspace], and there is not a price to pay for it. … We need to define what would be offensive, what’s an act of war,” he told the committee.
Adm. Rogers also told Republican Rep. Mike Rogers of Michigan, who chairs the committee, that multiple nation states were seeking to acquire the same kinds of cyber capabilities possessed by China.
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• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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