Russia Could Be Plotting Attack That Would Cripple U.S. In Unimaginable Way: Pentagon Officials

“I’m worried every day about what the Russians may be doing.”

by Randy DeSoto

Apparently Russian President Vladimir Putin’s increasingly aggressive military moves are coming not just in the air and on the land, but under the sea near vital communication lines.

The New York Times reported on Sunday that U.S. Navy officials are concerned about the level of Russian naval activity “near vital undersea cables that carry almost all of the global internet communications.” The cables transmit more than $10 trillion in business activity daily, as well 95 percent of world’s communications.

What the Times is calling the “ultimate Russian hack on the United States” could take the form of severing fiber-optic cables at some of the hardest to reach locations.

“I’m worried every day about what the Russians may be doing,” said Rear Adm. Frederick J. Roegge, commander of the Navy’s submarine fleet in the Pacific. 

Cmdr. William Marks, a Navy spokesman in Washington, added: “It would be a concern to hear any country was tampering with communication cables; however, due to the classified nature of submarine operations, we do not discuss specifics.”

“The level of activity” by the Russian military “is comparable to what we saw in the Cold War,” a senior European diplomat told the Times. 

Another concern is the possibility that the Russians are trying to not only search for vulnerable locations of the underseas cables used for general worldwide communications, but are also locate special cables used by the U.S. government for military operations. Their locations are classified.

“Adm. Mark Ferguson, commander of American naval forces in Europe, speaking in Washington this month, said that the proficiency and operational tempo of the Russian submarine force was increasing,” according to the Times.

Ferguson cited remarks by Russian Navy chief, Adm. Viktor Chirkov, who stated that patrols have risen almost 50 percent over the last year. The admiral said it is part of Russia’s emerging military doctrine of hybrid warfare, integrating convention forces, Special Operations and new technologies on the battlefield. 

“This involves the use of space, cyber, information warfare and hybrid warfare designed to cripple the decision-making cycle of the alliance,” Admiral Ferguson said, referring to NATO. “At sea, their focus is disrupting decision cycles.”

As reported by Western Journalism, the U.S. scrambled fighter jets on July 4th when Russian bombers flew near the coasts of Alaska and California. President Putin apparently wanted to send his Independence Day greetings.

http://www.westernjournalism.com/pentagon-officials-russia-could-be-plotting-attack-that-would-cripple-u-s-in-unimaginable-way/

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