Tag: Adm. Charles Richard

STRATCOM Commander: ‘Real Possibility’ of Nuclear War With China or Russia

Sandy Fitzgerald – February 03, 2021

There is a “real possibility” that a regional crisis with either China or Russia could escalate to nuclear war, the head of U.S. Strategic Command is warning in a call for federal and military leaders to change their approach to nuclear deterrence.

“There is a real possibility that a regional crisis with Russia or China could escalate quickly to a conflict involving nuclear weapons, if they perceived a conventional loss would threaten the regime or state,” STRATCOM Commander Adm. Charles Richard wrote in the February issue of “Proceedings,” the monthly magazine for the U.S. Naval Institute. “Consequently, the U.S. military must shift its principal assumption from ‘nuclear employment is not possible’ to ‘nuclear employment is a very real possibility,’ and act to meet and deter that reality.”

He also warned that China and Russia are beginning to “aggressively challenge international norms and global peace using instruments of power and threats of force in ways not seen since the height of the Cold War. He also cited investment in advanced arms, such as nuclear weapons, as well as a rise in cyberattacks and threats in space.

Meanwhile, recent actions from both countries will “increase the risk of great power crisis or conflict” if U.S. officials leave the matter unchecked.

Russia is “aggressively modernizing” its nuclear arsenal, Richard wrote, and China is on a “trajectory to be a strategic peer,” so it shouldn’t be dismissed as a lesser threat.

https://www.newsmax.com

China develops weapons to fry US electric grid, eyes high-tech ‘Pearl Harbor’ attack

Paul Bedard – June 18, 2020

With the help of stolen U.S. technology, China has developed at least three types of high-tech weapons to attack the electric grid and key technologies in a “surprise Pearl Harbor” assault that could send America into a deadly blackout, according to a new analysis.

According to the report from the independent EMP Task Force on National and Homeland Security, China has built a network of satellites, high-speed missiles, and “super-electromagnetic pulse” weapons that could melt down the U.S. electric network, fry critical communications, and stifle aircraft carrier groups.

According to the report, written by the task force’s executive director, Peter Pry, long an expert on EMP warfare, China developed the weapons as part of its “Total Information Warfare” that includes hacking raids on computers.

What’s more, despite China’s promises to attack only after being attacked, Pry revealed new data to show that the communist nation is lying and eager to shoot first with “high-altitude electromagnetic pulse,” or HEMP, weapons launched from satellites, ships, and land.

“China’s military doctrine — including numerous examples presented here of using HEMP attack to win on the battlefield, defeat U.S. aircraft carriers, and achieve against the U.S. homeland a surprise ‘Pearl Harbor’ writ large — is replete with technical and operational planning consistent with a nuclear first-strike,” said Pry in his report, provided to Secrets. It is shown below.

He added that while some believe China’s promise not to fire first, there are key U.S. officials who don’t buy it. For example, he cited February 2020 testimony from the chief of U.S. Strategic Command, Adm. Charles Richard, who said that he could “drive a truck through” China’s no-first-use policy.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com