The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage, and Fear in the Cyber Age

by David E. Sanger

In this new cyber age, we’re going to have to make sure that we continually work to find the right balance of accountability and openness and transparency that is the hallmark of our democracy. —Barack Obama, at his final White House press conference, January 18, 2017

The White House also announced the closure of two Russian diplomatic properties, in Long Island and Maryland. What the administration did not say was that one of them was being used by the Russians to bore underground and tap into a major telephone trunk line that would presumably give them access to both phone conversations and electronic messaging—and perhaps another pathway into American computer networks.

What made the strategy so brilliant was that the Chinese were flying in under the radar. When they bought an entire company, it triggered an official review in Washington, from a little-known, little-understood group called the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. It could recommend that the president block any sale on national-security grounds. And both Obama and Trump did so, several times. But there were no rules about taking a minority stake in a company, which would give the investors an early, privileged look at the technology.