Fischer Presses Intelligence Leaders on Growing Threats from Russia, China, and North Korea

Outlines Need to Modernize and Expand America's Nuclear Arsenal

Raises Alarm on Risks of Foreign Cyberattacks Against Critical U.S. Infrastructure

At a hearing today, U.S. Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, questioned senior intelligence officials about the growing threats posed by Russia, China, and North Korea - including an alarming nuclear buildup and efforts to disrupt critical U.S. infrastructure.

During the hearing, Senator Fischer questioned the Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and Defense Intelligence Agency Director Jeffrey Kruse about dangerous new capabilities from U.S. adversaries and the alarming increase in the nuclear arsenals of China and Russia.

Senator Fischer stressed the importance of maintaining U.S. deterrence. In April, Senator Fischer introduced the Restoring American Deterrence Act to overhaul U.S. nuclear preparedness and enact key updates to America's strategic posture.

Senator Fischer also raised the alarm about the risk of cyberattacks by China against critical U.S. infrastructure and attempts by Chinese state-sponsored cyber actors to pre-position themselves on networks to disrupt functions.

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On the Danger of China, Russia, and Others Expanding Their Nuclear Arsenals:Senator Fischer: Over the past several years, we've watched as Russia, China, and North Korea, they are rapidly expanding and modernizing their nuclear arsenals. They're also developing some really dangerous new capabilities that they can strike the United States with, and it really can happen without much warning. Do we have any idea, General or Director, on how large the stockpiles that these countries have are and/or also what their intention is and future production?
General Kruse: I think in this setting, I would say, yes, we have a great, I think, insight into a handful of the countries with good precision. There's a few countries where we have some ranges. And, in the closed session, we'd be happy to share those with you, as well as their likelihood of delivery of those to the continental United States.
On the Critical Need to Modernize and Expand U.S. Nuclear Deterrent:

Senator Fischer: Right now, the United States provides a nuclear umbrella to our allies. They are dependent upon that, and I believe it limits nuclear proliferation around this world because of the confidence that that our allies have in our umbrella that we provide them. Do you worry about our allies losing confidence in our ability to provide them with a strong deterrent, when we see our adversaries continue to build, at a breathtaking pace, their nuclear capabilities?
Director Haines: I'll start. I mean, I think you're absolutely right that the nuclear umbrella that we provide is intended to ultimately counter proliferation of nuclear weapons. And whether or not we're seeing a degradation in our allies' confidence that we will be there in the circumstances given - The thing is, I would say, it's not that I take it for granted, but rather that I think it's something that we have to continue to be very vigilant in working with our allies to ensure that they continue to have confidence in that nuclear umbrella. In certain circumstances, I think there's been a fair amount of discussion about whether the Republic of Korea, for example, is you know particularly concerned, and, given what they're seeing from the north, whether or not they continue to have confidence in us being able to provide that nuclear umbrella versus their own. In particular, you know, whether or not they should, in fact, engage in their own nuclear program. But, our assessment at this stage is not that they are, you know, pursuing that at this point, even though we recognize it's an area of public conversation.
General Kruse: And I would just echo that, having been assigned in the Indo-Pacific many times - so that's really some of the adversaries who present the threat and then some of our allies who are engaged in the dialogue with this - is that they will occasionally, when we see a change in stockpile, have a great conversation with us. And what you'll see is that, as long as we continue that dialogue, they're confident in the U.S. nuclear umbrella. And I would offer, as we think through this, sometimes it is not just the capacity. An increase in the numbers don't change the nuclear umbrella that the U.S. provides. It's really only when you get to have changes in capabilities. And, every conversation that we've had to date have been good, constructive conversations, and those will just continue.
On Foreign Efforts to Compromise U.S. Critical Infrastructure:
Senator Fischer: Director Haines, in the 2024 Annual Threat Assessment, it stated that "If Beijing believed that a major conflict with the United States were imminent, it would consider aggressive cyber operations against U.S. critical infrastructure and military assets. Such a strike would be designed to deter U.S. military action by impeding U.S. decision making, inducing societal panic, and interfering with the deployment of U.S. forces." In your opening comments, you mentioned how Chinese cyber actors are currently working to disrupt and destroy some of our critical infrastructure - putting things in place for future possibilities of using that. In this setting, can you provide us with any examples of this type of malign cyber activity?
Director Haines: So, yes. I think, just to be precise - but I think consistent with what you just said - what we see is both China and Russia, effectively trying to pre-position themselves in ways that would allow them to conduct those kinds of attacks, not actually yet, necessarily engaging in those attacks. And obviously, we can discuss this further in a closed session, and I can get back to you. I think we do have one or two examples that we've declassified of where they've tried to produce such footholds, essentially, in infrastructure. So, I'll do so in a follow up.
On the Importance of Sharing Intelligence to Combat Threats:Senator Fischer: Does the intelligence community work at all with our utility companies and others, so that you can increase awareness about the possibility of attacks and how these companies can work with you to help mitigate their vulnerabilities?
Director Haines: Yes, we do so largely through for example, CISA, for you know cybersecurity related to critical infrastructure. But, we are very heavily working with them to ensure that they're able to provide the kinds of warnings that you're describing for critical infrastructure across the board. And, this is something that we spend quite a bit of time on. And, as I indicated, we are seeing this sort of significant increase in attacks on control systems, which is so important to critical infrastructure. So, much of our critical infrastructure relies on these types of automated control systems that are vulnerable to cyber attack. But, again, working through exactly the attribution chain of where those attacks are coming from is quite challenging. And that's something that we spend quite a bit of time on. And again, as I indicated, so many of those attacks are basically possible as a consequence of just not engaging in good cybersecurity practices, not updating passwords, not you know, doing the kind of work that needs to be done, patching vulnerabilities that we're aware of. We will put out, you know - the government will put out notices, essentially, about such vulnerabilities. And we really think it's crucial for folks to do those types of cybersecurity practices because if they did that, it actually would reduce the threat significantly.

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