The secretary of the Army is warning there could be – even would be – an attack on the U.S. homeland by the Chinese military if a “major war” breaks out.
“It we got into a major war with China, the United States homeland would be at risk as well with both kinetic attacks and non-kinetic attacks – whether it’s cyberattacks on the power grid or on pipelines,” said Christine Wormuth, army secretary, during an event at the American Enterprise Institute.
“They are going to go after the will of the United States public. They’re going to try to erode support for a conflict,” she said, according to the Washington Examiner.
She explained the China’s People’s Liberation Army forces “are not yet prepared to launch an invasion of Taiwan, according to U.S. intelligence and military officials,” the report said.
But the top Army officer in that region suggested the U.S. forces should speed up their preparations.
“The payload of exercises in pathways is really at its zenith here in ’23,” Lt. Gen. Charles Flynn, commander of U.S. Army Pacific, said in the report. He was referring to an array of U.S. military exercises in the Indo-Pacific.
“This is an important year to get in position [and] create enduring advantage … so we’re ready to do that and our forces are ready today to be able to respond if need be in the event that something goes in the direction we don’t want it to go.”
The Army officers noted one of their concerns is adequate funding from Congress.
“Some of the key new weapons systems that the Army is developing will be impacted if we go into an extended continuing resolution. So that is very problematic at a time when everyone is worried about timelines,” Wormuth said.
She noted by fall, the military should have its first battery of long-range hypersonic weapons, one of the newest projects for the armed forces.
Just the News reported “China-U.S. relations appear to be further deteriorating amid recent concerns about the Chinese Communist Party spying on North America with at least one surveillance balloon and its possible military support of Russia in its war on Ukraine.”
