WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark E. Green, MD (R-TN) joined Dr. Jonathan Ward of the Hudson Institute for a discussion entitled, “Homeland Security and the China Challenge.” In the interview, Chairman Green highlighted the numerous threats posed to the homeland by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in and out of cyberspace—from the ship-to-shore cranes moving cargo at our ports, to the data on every American’s phone. He also called for stronger action to combat malicious drone use in our skies, address the fentanyl crisis at our Southwest border and the Chinese precursors that enable it, and bolster America’s cyber workforce amid growing threats to our critical infrastructure. Read highlights of his interview below.

Watch the full discussion here.

On cyber threats to U.S. critical infrastructure from CCP-backed hackers and the importance of public-private sector coordination on cybersecurity:
 
“[Chinese-affiliated threat actors] have invaded our infrastructure, which is under Homeland Security, protecting power, water, dams, all those things that are really important––critical infrastructure––the Department of Homeland Security has the responsibility to protect it. You know, Volt Typhoon got into all of those, and it puts us at massive risk. 
 
“The telecommunications [sector]––where CISA has this unique authority to protect the dot gov domains…as well as assisting our private sector. We’re in this massive transition in the United States between the paradigm that our private sector will protect itself, and how can we expect Microsoft [and] Google to protect themselves against a nation-state?”
 
“I’m pushing this notion that no, that is a sovereignty of the United States, a border of the United States. It must be protected, and we have to help––the government has a part. CISA has, currently, the role of doing that, and that is gathering information on vulnerabilities, sharing vulnerabilities [with] industry. But industry also has a responsibility here.”
 
“I had Microsoft come before us. I’ve had CrowdStrike’s leadership come before us…‘Your failure with some basic principles resulted in the compromise of government officials’ emails,’ in the case of Microsoft. In the case of CrowdStrike, ‘The way you did your update screwed over the system.’ It was a training exercise to a certain extent [that] prepared us for what it might look like if all these critical infrastructure [sectors] were undermined in a cyberattack. But look, the threat is real. China is doing everything it can.”
 
“If they do go and try to take Taiwan, they don’t want us to respond. So, they want to know the knife is at the throat.”
 
“Salt Typhoon is one that’s very recent, and that’s [at least] eight telecommunications companies…Your text messages, who you texted, who you called and when, your geolocation, all that data is now in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party. And I can tell you this, and I specifically asked in a classified briefing if I could say this…They’re still in the system.”
 
“Those are two prominent cyberattacks. It’s time we go on the offensive. I don’t mean defensive, I mean offensive. It’s time to strike back. And we need to make the world aware that we have the capability.”
 
On the threat posed by drones in our skies and the government’s authority to combat them:
 
“The problem is that we can’t tell you a lot. We know for a fact that some of it is manned aircraft. We know that there are drones that are legitimately out there…We also know that there our drones that we don’t know about, and when the DOD or DHS says, ‘We have no evidence that it’s a foreign entity or some criminal activity,’ that means they don’t know what it is. That’s not good enough. 
 
“Just last week the FBI arrested a Chinese national who flew a drone over Vandenberg’s Space Force base. He was trying to leave the country when they actually arrested the guy. So, tying this to China, we have clear indications they’re flying drones in the United States over our sensitive sites. So, we need answers, we need them fast. I have a bill right now in Congress that’s been challenging to get it done because it crosses three different jurisdictions in the House––homeland security, judiciary, and transportation, because the FAA has something to say about what happens in American airspace. 
 
“But one thing that’s really important to know is that USNORTHCOM right now has the authority to shoot these things down. Just like it did the [Chinese] spy balloon. And yet, we don’t have a drone. If you really want to find out what’s going on with a drone, you catch it, you download, you hack it, you download this flight path, you get all the data, and you trace back to where the remote is flown from. Until you have the drone, at least in a non-classified space, you don’t have the data. So, [it’s] a big question mark, unfortunately, and that’s not acceptable.”
 
“My bill would not only advance the current authorizations for DOJ, DHS, and DOD, but it would also optimize state and local––under parameters.” 
 
On the threat posed to our maritime ports from Chinese-manufactured cranes:
 
“We’re in a conflict with China on multiple levels and too many people are asleep at the wheel. You look at the crane issue. Eighty percent of cranes [are] manufactured by one company from China. We discovered now there are modems on these that can communicate what they see back to China.”
 
“This is insanity that we’ve just allowed this to happen. Our Committee, along with the Gallagher at the time and now Moolenaar, did this investigation into the cranes and discovered these modems that allow them to monitor what we’re doing. I mean, you think about the economic data, knowing what goes through which port. It’s all about data analytics now for business anyway, and understanding who is buying what and where and how, supply chains, etc. But they have all that data.” 
 
On China’s role in the fentanyl crisis:
 
“On the supply side, we should take offensive, sanctioned actions against China. Look, that’s the most surveilled state in the world, and they can’t find who’s making the precursors and sending them to Mexico? That’s a farce. They know who’s doing it, and in many cases, they are directly subsidizing those entities. So, they’re complicit at a minimum, or they’re actually participating in the death of Americans and the destruction of the base family unit…This is their game, disruption of the society, and they are doing that. We have to stop the flow. We have to seal off our border.”
 
On the rise in Chinese nationals illegally crossing the Southwest border between ports of entry:
 
“This is a planned strategy of the CCP, and Joe Biden and Alejandro Mayorkas have facilitated this.”
 
“The Wall Street Journal published an article…Over the past three years, the article said, over 100 instances of Chinese tourists storming military installations with cameras…You’ve got the drone pilot. You’ve got this lab that the FBI still isn’t talking to us about, which was found in California, that had multiple different biohazard biologics. You’ve got the New York City [CCP] police station. You’ve got the Houston consulate that was caught shredding and burning secret documents. I mean, look, China wants to take America down as the global superpower. We’re in a conflict with China, and we just aren’t waking up.”
 
On his legislation to bolster America’s cyber workforce:
 
“I have a bill called the [Cyber] PIVOTT Act. We passed it out of Committee…That’ll be one of my biggest priorities next year. It’s an ROTC -like program that pays for [students] to get technical degrees…You can actually be in a career and choose to get back into cyber, so it’ll take care of midlife folks who want to come back and get a cyber technical degree. It pays for their education and then they owe the government…The ROI is positive for the country. We’ve got to fix the pipeline…On the grander scheme, talent management, competing with China on a global scale, this is about workforce––and particularly in my field of view, cyber.” 
 

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