The Obama administration is considering more assertive action against Beijing to combat a persistent cyber-espionage campaign it believes Chinese hackers are waging against US companies and government agencies.
Two former US officials said the administration is preparing a new National Intelligence Estimate that, when complete, is expected to detail the cyberthreat, particularly from China, as a growing economic problem. One official said it also will cite more directly a role by the Chinese government in such espionage.
The official said the NIE, an assessment prepared by the National Intelligence Council, will underscore the administration’s concerns about the threat, and will put greater weight on plans for more aggressive action against the Chinese government. The official was not authorised to discuss the classified report and spoke only on condition of anonymity.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in an interview with reporters as she wound up her tenure, said the US needs to send a strong message that it will respond to such incidents.
“We have to begin making it clear to the Chinese - they’re not the only people hacking us or attempting to hack us - that the United States is going to have to take action to protect not only our government’s, but our private sector, from this kind of illegal intrusions. There’s a lot that we are working on that will be deployed in the event that we don’t get some kind of international effort under way,” she said.