Small Wars Journal

The Marine Corps’ Radical Shift Toward China

Wed, 03/25/2020 - 9:31pm

The Marine Corps’ Radical Shift Toward China by Mark F. Cancian - Center for Strategic & International Studies

Last July, General Berger electrified the national security community with planning guidance that proposed to align the Marine Corps with the National Defense Strategy (NDS) by making major changes to forces, equipment, and training. Though dramatic in concept, the guidance lacked specifics. General Berger has now provided those specifics, and they are as radical as the concepts. Gone are tanks and capabilities for sustained ground combat and counterinsurgency. Instead, the corps focuses on long-range and precision strike for a maritime campaign in the Western Pacific against China. But this new Marine Corps faces major risks if the future is different from that envisioned or if the new concepts for operations in a hostile environment prove more difficult to implement than the Marine Corps’ war games indicate.

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U.S. Cybersecurity Experts See Recent Spike in Chinese Digital Espionage

Wed, 03/25/2020 - 8:40pm

U.S. Cybersecurity Experts See Recent Spike in Chinese Digital Espionage – Reuters

WASHINGTON - A U.S. cybersecurity firm said Wednesday it has detected a surge in new cyberspying by a suspected Chinese group dating back to late January, when coronavirus was starting to spread outside China.

FireEye Inc. said in a report it had spotted a spike in activity from a hacking group it dubs "APT41" that began on Jan. 20 and targeted more than 75 of its customers, from manufacturers and media companies to healthcare organizations and nonprofits.

There were "multiple possible explanations" for the spike in activity, said FireEye Security Architect Christopher Glyer, pointing to long-simmering tensions between Washington and Beijing over trade and more recent clashes over the coronavirus outbreak, which has killed more than 17,000 people since late last year.

The report said it was "one of the broadest campaigns by a Chinese cyber espionage actor we have observed in recent years."

FireEye declined to identify the affected customers. The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not directly address FireEye's allegations but said in a statement that China was "a victim of cybercrime and cyberattack." The U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined comment…

Read on.