Nicole Perlroth

When I wrote out my television investigation for The Times in early 2013, I laid this all out. But I left the motive as a question mark. Was this more Chinese industrial espionage? Or was this the first sign of the unimaginable? Twitter didn't like that very much. Many accused me of fear-mongering.

When I wrote out my television investigation for The Times in early 2013, I laid this all out. But I left the motive as a question mark. Was this more Chinese industrial espionage? Or was this the first sign of the unimaginable? Twitter didn't like that very much. Many accused me of fear-mongering.

The idea China would want to hack our pipelines for anything other than IP theft was simply beyond our imagination. The U.S. and China were so economically entangled, the idea that PRC would do anything to paralyze us was inconceivable. They'd only be shooting themselves in the foot. Or so the thinking went at the time. Now, with hindsight being 2020,

The idea China would want to hack our pipelines for anything other than IP theft was simply beyond our imagination. The U.S. and China were so economically entangled, the idea that PRC would do anything to paralyze us was inconceivable. They'd only be shooting themselves in the foot. Or so the thinking went at the time. Now, with hindsight being 2020,

I would have worded that article more strongly. And if I hadn't been getting dunked in breaches every day, I might have been able to pull my face out of the water, taken a deep breath, heard the warnings, and seen the Telvent attack for what it really was.

I would have worded that article more strongly. And if I hadn't been getting dunked in breaches every day, I might have been able to pull my face out of the water, taken a deep breath, heard the warnings, and seen the Telvent attack for what it really was.

That was Obama sounding the alarm in his 2013 State of the Union. And here's former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta sounding an even more dire warning right around the time Tillvent was installing its attack.

That was Obama sounding the alarm in his 2013 State of the Union. And here's former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta sounding an even more dire warning right around the time Tillvent was installing its attack.

Panetta's cyber Pearl Harbor speech was also derided as hyperbolic at the time. But in retrospect, that stark vision he described of hackers seizing our critical switches, contaminating our water supply, it was clairvoyant. It would take another nine years for U.S.

Panetta's cyber Pearl Harbor speech was also derided as hyperbolic at the time. But in retrospect, that stark vision he described of hackers seizing our critical switches, contaminating our water supply, it was clairvoyant. It would take another nine years for U.S.

intelligence officials to declassify their findings that, yes, the Telvin attack, along with a dozen other Chinese incursions into America's pipelines over that same window, attacks that never even crossed my radar, were the beginnings of a strategic Chinese pivot.

intelligence officials to declassify their findings that, yes, the Telvin attack, along with a dozen other Chinese incursions into America's pipelines over that same window, attacks that never even crossed my radar, were the beginnings of a strategic Chinese pivot.

Over the next decade, Chinese hackers started coming for American targets with little to no intelligence value at all. But their value for sabotage? Enormous.

Over the next decade, Chinese hackers started coming for American targets with little to no intelligence value at all. But their value for sabotage? Enormous.

It wasn't just oil and gas pipelines. Over the next decade, they started breaking into major logistics hubs like Houston Seaport, the critical artery for American oil, gas, and petrochemicals. They broke into U.S. airports and railway systems. They broke into the Texas power grid. And we don't even have to imagine what a shutdown of that looks like.

It wasn't just oil and gas pipelines. Over the next decade, they started breaking into major logistics hubs like Houston Seaport, the critical artery for American oil, gas, and petrochemicals. They broke into U.S. airports and railway systems. They broke into the Texas power grid. And we don't even have to imagine what a shutdown of that looks like.

They started showing up in utilities that oversee power and water across the nation. Some of these were obvious targets, others not, like that one in Littleton, Massachusetts, and hundreds just like it. Now, it's worth pausing here. It's important to take a macro view of what China was doing over the very same time period its hackers were popping up in our infrastructure.

They started showing up in utilities that oversee power and water across the nation. Some of these were obvious targets, others not, like that one in Littleton, Massachusetts, and hundreds just like it. Now, it's worth pausing here. It's important to take a macro view of what China was doing over the very same time period its hackers were popping up in our infrastructure.

The Belt and Road Initiative. In 2013, China announced Belt and Road, a trillion-dollar-plus investment in building out major infrastructure projects all around the globe with a focus on the developing world. We're talking billions of dollars of Chinese investment into foreign railways,

The Belt and Road Initiative. In 2013, China announced Belt and Road, a trillion-dollar-plus investment in building out major infrastructure projects all around the globe with a focus on the developing world. We're talking billions of dollars of Chinese investment into foreign railways,