Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel will meet with members of a Chinese delegation this weekend and likely talk about ongoing cyberthreats amid new reports that China used computer-based attacks to access data from dozens of Pentagon weapons programmes and other defence technologies.
Speaking to reporters on his plane en route to Singapore on Thursday, Hagel said that the US must find ways to work with the Chinese and other countries to develop rules of the road and a better understanding among nations for the use of cyber.
“These are issues that we’re going to deal with, frame up, put right at the top of the agenda,” said Hagel, who is expected to have the brief meeting with the Chinese on the sidelines of a session at the Shangri-La Dialogue, an international security conference. “There’s only one way to deal with these issues - that’s straight up.”
Hagel also noted that cybersecurity will, for the first time, be the topic at a dedicated session in next week’s Nato meeting for defence ministers. World leaders have long been talking about the sneed to set international standards and come to some broad agreements about the responsible use of cyber technologies.
Hagel’s comments came on the heels of a report by the Defence Science Board that said nearly 40 Pentagon weapons programs and almost 30 other defence technologies were compromised by cyber intrusions. The report said that some of the intrusions appeared to be “attributable directly to the Chinese government and military.”
Other US and private cybersecurity reports have made similar assertions, while also noting that in some cases the breaches emanated from within China, but it was not certain they were directed or sanctioned by the government.