The U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security held a full committee hearing on Wednesday to examine threats posed to the homeland by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cyber actors and transnational criminal groups. During the hearing, experts provided detailed insights into the sophisticated tactics employed by these entities to undermine national security. They also cautioned that Beijing’s cyber operations are designed to surveil and infiltrate—and eventually control —these critical systems and defense-related supply chains.
The witnesses at the hearing on “Countering Threats Posed by the Chinese Communist Party to U.S. National Security” included Michael Pillsbury, senior fellow for China strategy at the Heritage Foundation; Bill Evanina, founder and CEO at the Evanina Group; Craig Singleton, China Program senior director and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies; and Rush Doshi, an assistant professor of security studies at the Georgetown University Walsh School of Foreign Service, C.V. Starr Senior Fellow for Asia Studies and Director of the China Strategy Initiative, Council on Foreign Relations.
Bennie G. Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi and ranking member of the Committee on Homeland Security, said in his opening remarks that the problem is that Congressional Republicans’ tough talk on China is at odds with the Trump administration’s actions, which are hurting America’s ability to counter threats from the CCP. For example, China is carrying out cyber attacks for espionage and to position itself for attacks against our critical infrastructure in the event of a future conflict.
“Unbelievably, President Trump has fired key cybersecurity personnel at the Department of Homeland Security and dismissed members of the Cyber Safety Review Board investigating recent Chinese attacks,” Thompson added. “We are hearing that significant cuts are coming for the remaining workforce at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Let’s be clear — the Trump administration gutting U.S. cyber defenses makes it harder to protect Americans against Chinese cyber attacks and makes us less safe.”
Michael Guest, a Republican from Mississippi and chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement, identified that for decades, China has steadily pursued a long-term grand strategy to replace the United States as the leading global power. “We cannot afford wishful thinking or willful ignorance about the nature of the Chinese regime, its aims, and its ongoing efforts to undermine the United States. We also need proactive measures to counter the CCP’s audacious actions that jeopardize our homeland security, especially given that most of the threats they pose are unfolding below the threshold of traditional conflict.”
He added that over the past four years, there have been more than 60 espionage cases across 20 states linked to the CCP, including operations to gather intelligence on sensitive military information and the theft of technology and trade secrets.
“Whether we are countering acts of transnational repression, strengthening our cybersecurity with legislation like the Cyber PIVOTT Act, or shoring up our economic security and supply chain resilience, we can make some major headway on meeting the PRC challenge,” Guest added. “The freedom and prosperity of the American people in the decades to come depends on our courage and foresight to take decisive action now.”
“The People’s Republic of China is working tirelessly to unseat the United States as the global hegemon, using the Chinese Communist Party as its greatest weapon of global information warfare,” Mark E. Green, a Republican representative from Tennessee and the chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security, said in a statement last week. “From infiltrating American higher education and operating clandestine police stations on U.S. soil to conducting cyber espionage and undermining our supply chains–Beijing casts an authoritarian shadow upon the United States.”
He added that when dissident voices speak out on these threats in our communities and abroad, far too many are harassed and silenced by operatives of the CCP. “As America’s greatest geopolitical adversary threatens our homeland security, I look forward to hearing from this panel of experts on how to take decisive action.”
Doshi evaluated that cyber actors from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) have infiltrated sensitive U.S. networks with several objectives. The PRC aims to access American personal data for intelligence gathering and seeks American intellectual property. They have penetrated U.S. companies, reportedly stealing over US$1 trillion worth of intellectual property. Additionally, the PRC targets government systems and, most alarmingly, is preparing the cyber landscape for potential wartime operations. Both government officials and private sector leaders have increasingly highlighted PRC activities within U.S. critical infrastructure, which could pose a significant threat to national security.
Cybersecurity agencies including CISA, NSA, FBI, and Five Eyes partners assessed ‘that People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-sponsored cyber actors are seeking to pre-position themselves on IT networks for disruptive or destructive cyberattacks against U.S. critical infrastructure in the event of a major crisis or conflict with the United States,’ and that a PRC group called ‘Volt Typhoon’ had comprised infrastructure providers in several sectors.
“What is particularly concerning is the possibility that the PRC may be learning more about systems on which the U.S. relies while reducing its own reliance on U.S. systems,” Doshi highlighted. “Conversely, we may not be able to gain comparable information about PRC systems. Over time, this creates a structural asymmetric vulnerability. This is not a purely academic consideration.”
Evanina observed that the CCP’s capabilities and intent are second to none as an adversary. “Cyber breaches, insider threats, surveillance, and penetrations into our critical infrastructure have all been widely reported. Adding in the CCP’s crippling stranglehold on so many aspects of our supply chain and the result is a montage of domestic vulnerability of unacceptable proportions.”
He also highlighted that malign foreign influence has increased dramatically in the U.S. in the past decade. Russia, China, and others have been very active in this activity and with varying degrees of success. Measuring such activity has proven to be not a perfect science.
“China is strategic and precise as they successfully influence at the state and local levels of the U.S. I want to briefly touch on a few key areas,” according to Evanina. “The first is economic investment. Chinese investments in key industries such as real estate, agriculture, advanced manufacturing, and technology have raised significant concerns. These partnerships often take the form of ‘Sister City Programs’ but can also be business partnerships between a city or small town and a CCP-owned or controlled company. Investments in U.S. critical infrastructure at the local level is also on the rise which creates an entire separate category of concern.”
FDD’s Singleton noted that Beijing’s strategy is unfolding in three interlocking phases. First, Chinese actors and companies are relentlessly penetrating U.S. networks and critical infrastructure. “Hacking campaigns like Salt, Volt, and Flax Typhoon demonstrate how state-sponsored entities are infiltrating our digital ecosystems to steal sensitive data and embed themselves in our communications, industrial, and defense networks.5 These intrusions serve dual purposes: They collect intelligence and prepare for future sabotage. More than a year after these breaches were first made public, China still maintains persistent access to many compromised networks, having faced almost no penalty for its actions.”
Second, Beijing pre-positions its advantages by engineering dependencies that can be weaponized to advance China’s national interests. China deliberately creates choke points in global supply chains and network infrastructures. Chinese-made LiDAR, compromised cranes in U.S. ports, and drones in both civilian and military applications illustrate this approach. Moreover, the U.S. Defense Department has warned that Beijing’s cyber activities aim not merely to monitor but to compromise — and ultimately control — these sensitive systems and defense-related supply chains.
Third, Beijing profits from this dual approach. The economic and military gains are immense. Chinese exports in high-tech sectors fuel rapid PLA modernization and undercut global competitors. Every infiltration and dependency generates revenue that China reinvests in military-civil fusion programs, enhancing its capacity to wage war. By consistently converting market access into geopolitical leverage, the CCP has significantly strengthened its influence over U.S. and allied decision-making to weaponize Western reliance on these technologies to force countries into accepting its strategic demands.
“Today’s stakes have never been higher. Beijing’s three-phase strategy — penetrating our networks, prepositioning technological choke points, and profiting from those dependencies — poses a direct challenge to U.S. homeland security,” Singleton added. “In response, the United States must both fortify its networks and curtail China’s ability to exploit these vulnerabilities to achieve its desired strategic ends. That effort demands robust outbound investment screening, paired with technology-specific controls and procurement bans, to safeguard America’s critical infrastructure and national interests.”
Singleton also mentioned that China’s move from high-level technological aspirations to tangible action began with a systematic push to penetrate U.S. networks and critical infrastructure. “This effort has been neither opportunistic nor ad hoc; rather, it reflects a methodical plan to gather intelligence, undermine American defenses, and engineer dependencies that can be weaponized during both peace and wartime. Beijing’s infiltration extends beyond mere data theft, delving into the very architecture of U.S. supply chains and physical systems in order to secure both economic and strategic leverage.”
In conclusion, Singleton highlighted that by enacting robust supply chain oversight, technology-specific restrictions, and rigorous investment screening, the House Homeland Security Committee can decisively blunt Beijing’s infiltration, prepositioning, and profiteering. “Each recommendation falls squarely within the Committee’s legislative and oversight purview. By moving from a reactive stance to a proactive defense, Congress will safeguard U.S. critical infrastructure, deny Xi Jinping the leverage he seeks, and ensure that America’s homeland security remains resilient in the face of China’s aggressive techno-strategic ambitions,” he added.
