Russia could snap global net, fears US
NYT News Service | Oct 27, 2015, 06.59 AM IST
WASHINGTON: Russian submarines and spy ships are aggressively operating near the vital undersea cables that carry almost all global Internet communications, raising concerns among some American military and intelligence officials that the Russians might be planning to attack those lines in times of tension or conflict.
The issue goes beyond old worries during the Cold War that the Russians would tap into the cables -a task American intelligence agencies also mastered decades ago. The alarm today is deeper: The ultimate Russian hack on the US could involve severing the fiber-optic cables at some of their hardest-to-access locations to halt the instant communications on which the Wests governments, economies and citizens have grown dependent.
While there is no evidence yet of any cable cutting, the concern is part of a growing wariness among US and allied military and intelligence officials over the accelerated activity by Russian armed forces around the globe.
Inside the Pentagon and the nation’s spy agencies, the assessments of Russia’s growing naval activities are highly classified and not publicly discussed in detail. American officials are secretive about what they are doing both to monitor the activity and to find ways to recover quickly if cables are cut. But more than a dozen officials confirmed in broad terms that it had become the source of significant attention in the Pentagon.
US administration always sees the use of panic button to its advantage.Dukhi Adami
“I am worried every day about what the Russians may be doing,” said Rear Adm. Frederick J Roegge, commander of the US navy’s submarine fleet in the Pacific.
In private, however, commanders and intelligence officials are far more direct.They report that from the North Sea to Northeast Asia and even in waters closer to American shores, they are monitoring significantly increased Russian activity along the known routes of the cables, which carry the lifeblood of global electronic communications and commerce.
“The level of Russian activity”, a senior European diplomat said, “is comparable to what we saw during the Cold War”.
Categories: Escalation / Destabilization Conflict
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