The most shocking intel leak reveals new Chinese military advances By Josh Rogin Col

[Boats]

The most shocking intel leak reveals new Chinese military advances
By Josh Rogin - The Washington Post - 04-13-22 ~ 11:08 a.m. EDT - -Columnist
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China has tested and deployed a new longer-range hypersonic missile that is probably able to evade U.S. defenses, according to an overlooked top-secret document among those recently leaked. Now, the public can see what the American intelligence community already knew: China is quickly improving its capacity to strike thousands of miles from its shores and prevent the United States from intervening.

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The Justice and Defense departments are investigating the leak of hundreds of U.S. intelligence documents, which include chilling revelations about the Ukrainian equipment shortfalls, backdoor Egyptian-Russian arms deals, Israeli spy agencies allegedly working against the country’s elected leaders, and internal South Korean security deliberations. (The Egyptian, Israeli and South Korean governments say this information is false.) Buried in the documents is also a key piece of intelligence regarding China’s progress in military technology.

According to a Feb. 28 top-secret report by the Joint Chiefs of Staff intelligence directorate, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had three days earlier successfully tested a new hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile called the DF-27. (The Defense Department has not confirmed the document’s authenticity.)

“The DF-27 is designed to enhance [China’s] ability to hold targets at risk beyond the Second Island Chain and possesses a high probability of penetrating U.S.” ballistic missile defense, the daily intelligence update stated. It also revealed that last year the PLA deployed versions of the new missile that can attack land targets and ships.

Discord Leaks:

Dozens of highly classified documents have been leaked online, revealing sensitive information intended for senior military and intelligence leaders. In an exclusive investigation, The Post also reviewed scores of additional secret documents, most of which have not been made public.

Who leaked the documents?

Jack Teixeira, a young member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, was arrested Thursday in the investigation into leaks of hundreds of pages of classified military intelligence. The Washington Post reported that the individual who leaked the information shared documents with a small circle of online friends on the Discord chat platform.

What do the leaked documents reveal about Ukraine? The documents reveal profound concerns about the war’s trajectory and Kyiv’s capacity to wage a successful offensive against Russian forces. According to a Defense Intelligence Agency assessment among the leaked documents, “Negotiations to end the conflict are unlikely during 2023.”
What else do they show? The files include summaries of human intelligence on high-level conversations between world leaders, as well as information about advanced satellite technology the United States uses to spy. They also include intelligence on both allies and adversaries, including Iran and North Korea, as well as Britain, Canada, South Korea and Israel.

What happens now? The leak has far-reaching implications for the United States and its allies. In addition to the Justice Department investigation, officials in several countries said they were assessing the damage from the leaks.
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The intermediate-range ballistic missile flew for 12 minutes and traveled 2,100 kilometers (1,300 miles), the leaked document revealed. But according to a 2021 Defense Department report, the DF-27 has a range of 5,000 to 8,000 kilometers, meaning that it can strike any target in East or Southeast Asia and large parts of the Pacific, including Guam. In addition to its added range, the new missile has a “hypersonic glide” capability, which means it can be maneuvered to evade American and allied missile defenses and is a greater potential “carrier killer” than its predecessors were.

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The most obvious, though not the only, scenario in which Beijing might find this capability useful would be in attempting to invade Taiwan. If American ships can be held at bay and U.S. forces in Asia can be targeted at will, any allied intervention in Taiwan’s defense would be more difficult and costly. Another potentially Taiwan-related revelation in the leaked documents is that China has for the first time recently used its new helicopter-carrying assault ship in an extended deployment.

The new missile is only one piece in a rapidly expanding arsenal that Beijing is deploying as it militarizes more of the South China Sea, builds out its blue-water fleet, expands its footprint in the Pacific Islands, and engages in the largest nuclear buildup since the Cold War.

China is building approximately 350 new nuclear-missile silos, hundreds of new nuclear warheads, and several new bases for mobile rocket launchers that can handle intermediate- and long-range missiles, according to a March report by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS).

“China is continuing the nuclear weapons modernization program that it initiated in the 1990s and 2000s, but is expanding it significantly by fielding more types and greater numbers of nuclear weapons than ever before,” the report stated.

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Hans Kristensen, director of the FAS Nuclear Information Project, told me the DF-27 can probably hold either nuclear or conventional warheads, and therefore can be seen as both a strategic and a tactical weapon.

“The Chinese have left their previous philosophy of a minimum nuclear deterrent, and they have determined both in terms of numbers and in terms of types of systems, they need more stuff,” Kristensen said. “This adds to that picture.”

In Washington, military planners are realizing that China (and, to a lesser degree, Russia) has surpassed the United States in hypersonic military technology. But there’s no agreement on what to do about it. The United States is developing hypersonic weapons of its own, but it lacks sufficient means to defend against the ones China is already fielding.

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In the Cold War, the United States developed asymmetric capabilities to nullify the Soviet Union’s advantage in having a larger missile arsenal. Now China is using that strategy against America. Rather than meet China’s missile developments tit for tat, the United States and its allies must shift resources to nullify the new threat and shore up their ability to protect their assets.

Thanks to the leaks, at least the public now knows the extent of China’s advances. But peace in Asia depends on maintaining the credibility of the U.S.-led deterrent.
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Personal note:
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It never ceases to amaze me - that China is always working in the background
(or in secret) on its military advances. And at sometimes even exceeding the
US - whenever they can?
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One can only hope that we are aware of all these issues - sooner than later.
And why are they [Russia - China & North Korea] always working on upgrades
that seem to take us by surprise - and are we really ready to compensate with
our weapons - to deter their aggressive actions?
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Insecurity is always in play more-so than ever nowadays. Plus, our internal
governmental issues are not (it seems) - on the same page as are our enemies.
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The Middle East is once again flaming up once more. NATO is now more involved
in the issues of the day - but - are they "really ready" - should events sour?
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Our internal issues in this country are twisted by informalities. Congress and
their infighting is not accomplishing anything - but bullshit - between both parties.
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Our security - as we've seen today - can be compromised of late. The infighting
of our society is getting out of hand - and we have less composure than ever of
the issues - each and every day!
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We need to do more house cleaning and remove the issues that are getting
out of hand!
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