America is only as secure as its least-secure drone

Excerpt

Recent reports of China’s People’s Liberation Army hackers infiltrating into the networks and systems of dozens of critical U.S. infrastructure facilities — power plants, transportation systems, and water utilities — in preparation for future attacks or disruptions, should raise alarm in Washington.

But China’s preparations extend well beyond cyber malicious activity. For years, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has maintained “eyes in the sky” above America’s critical national infrastructure in the form of commercial drones, which are persistently collecting sensitive data and information that could be passed to Beijing.

This surveillance isn’t just passive data collection; it’s a strategic mapping of our critical infrastructure, potentially laying the groundwork for targeted cyberattacks or even physical sabotage that could endanger our water supply, shut our lights off, and prevent our military from mobilizing effectively.

Mark Montgomery is a retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral and Senior Director of the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.