15 / 46
wiredInUSA - December 2015
15
INDEX
Cables under threat?
Washington Free Beacon
has reported that a
US senator believes Russian aggression may
pose a threat to subsea communications
cables. Russian submarines and spy ships
have been caught “aggressively operating”
near cables in the last month, prompting
concern that Moscow could easily sever
the cables and leave entire nations without
access to the web.
The matter has been discussed during
closed-door briefings between senators
and senior officials from Naval Intelligence,
the Department of Homeland Security, US
European Command, and the Office of the
Director of National Intelligence. “Undersea
cables are critical to our economy, our
communications, and our national security,”
Senator Roger Wicker said in a statement,
continuing: “The United States needs to take
seriously the growing Russian threat to these
cables.”
The
New York Times
reported in October
that intelligence officials suggest that: “The
ultimate Russian hack on the United States
could involve severing the fiber optic cables
at some of their hardest-to-access locations
to halt the instant communications on which
the West’s governments, economies and
citizens have grown dependent”.
In a letter to the Director of National
Intelligence, James Clapper, Senator Wicker
requested that the administration provide
lawmakers with a classified brief on the
matter.