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CHINA AND CUBA
AND INFORMATION WARFARE (IW):
SIGNALS INTELLIGENCE (SIGINT), ELECTRONIC WARFARE (EW) AND
CYBER-WARFARE
DR. MANUEL CEREIJO, P.E.
CHINESE SUPERCOMPUTERS
Supercomputer developer
Debut in Top500
Processors
Tianhe-1A
National University ofDefense Technology
November 2010
Nvidia Tesla GPUs and Intel Xeon CPUswith custom
interconnect
Sunway Bluelight MPP
National Research Center of Parallel Computer Engineering
and Technology
November 2011
Shenwei SW1600CPUs withan InfiniBand QDR Interconnect
Dawning 6000
Chinese Academy of Sciences and Dawning Information Industry
June 2012 (expected)
Godson-3B CPUs
In late October 2011, the Sunway BlueLight MPP made
headlines as China’s first high performance computer to
harness the power of a homegrown chip, the ShenWei SW1600.
The Dawning 6000 will use another indigenous processor, the
Godson-3B. These are supercomputers that China can call its
own. Both machines still use Western interconnect systems.
The fall of communism has not reduced the level or amount of
espionage and other serious intelligence activity conducted
against the United States. The targets have not changed at
all: there is still a deadly serious foreign interest, and
mainly from the new China/Cuba consortium, in traditional
intelligence activities such as penetrating the U.S.
intelligence community, collecting classified information on
U.S. military defense systems, and purloining the latest
advances in the nation’s science and technology sector.
There is also a growing importance in maintaining the
integrity of the country’s information infrastructure. Our
growing dependence on computer networks and
telecommunications has made the U.S. increasingly vulnerable
to possible cyber attacks against such targets as military
war rooms, power plants, telephone networks, air traffic
control centers and banks. China and Cuba have increased
their cooperation in this area through the Bejucal base in
Cuba, as well as in Wajay (near Bejucal), and Santiago de
Cuba. On these bases they use technologically sophisticated
equipment, as well as new intelligence methodologies that
makes it more difficult, or impossible for U.S. intelligence
agencies to monitor or detect.
The international terrorism threat can be divided into three
general categories. Each poses a serious and distinct
threat, and each has a presence already in the United
States. The most important category is the state sponsored
threat. This category includes the following countries:
Iran, Syria, Sudan, Cuba, North Korea. Put simply, these
nations view terrorism as a tool of foreign policy.
There are three main areas of concern for us in the new and
dangerous axis formed by China and Cuba: radio frequency
weapons, computer technology, missile capabilities. The
problem with the Chinese Cuban rapprochement is that it is
driven by mutual hostility towards the United States.
Radio frequency weapons are a new radical class of weapons.
Radio frequency weapons can utilize either high energy radio
frequency (HERF), or low energy radio frequency (LERF)
technology. HERF is advanced technology. It is based on
concentrating large amounts of RF EM energy in within a
small space, narrow frequency range, and a very short period
of time. The result is an overpowering RF EM impulse capable
of causing substantial damage to electronic components.
LERF utilizes relatively low energy, which is spread over a
wide frequency spectrum. It can be no less effective in
disrupting normal functioning of computers as HERF due to
the wider range of frequencies it occupies. LERF does not
require time compression neither high tech components. LERF
impact on computers and computer networks could be
devastating. The computer would go into a random output
mode, that is, it is impossible to predict what the computer
would do. A back up computer will not solve the problem
either. One example of LERF use was the KGB’s manipulation
of the United States Embassy security system in Moscow in
the late 80s.
Worldwide proliferation in RF weapons has increased
dramatically in the last five years. The collapse of the
Soviet Union is probably the most significant factor
contributing to this increase in attention and concern about
proliferation. The KGB has split into independent parts. One
of them is referred to as FAPSI. It has been partially
privatized. Spin-off companies have been created, with very
attractive golden parachutes for the high officers. FAPSI,
or its spin-off companies have been heavily involved in
China and Cuba in RF technology, as well as computer
technology.
China, PRC, has stolen design information on the United
States most advanced thermonuclear weapons. The stolen
information includes classified information on:
· Seven U.S. thermonuclear warheads, including every
currently deployed thermonuclear warhead in the U.S.
ballistic missile arsenal
· Classified design information for an enhanced
radiation weapon (neutron bomb), which neither the USA , nor
any other country has yet deployed
· Classified information on state of the art reentry
vehicles, and warheads, such as the W-88, a miniaturized,
tapered warhead, which is the most sophisticated nuclear
weapon the United States has ever built.
These and other classified information have been obtained in
the last 20 years. However, the now presence in Cuba, with
the use of the Bejucal base, and the proximity to the United
States, makes the China/Cuba new axis a very serious threat
to this nation.
In 1993, a Cuban nuclear engineer, and high officer of the
Cuban Intelligence military apparatus, was awarded a one
year stance at Sandia National Labs, Albuquerque, doing
research on Physical protection of nuclear facilities and
materials. The officer is, since 1999, in exile in the
United States.
The PRC has acquired also technology on high performance
computers (HPC). HPCs are needed for the design and testing
of advanced nuclear weapons. The PRC has targeted the U.S.
nuclear test data for espionage collection. This can be
accomplished through the facilities in Cuba.
CUBA AND CHINA JOINING EFFORTS: LARGE SCALE QUANTUM
COMPUTING
These kind of computers could, among other functions, crack
the toughest codes. Computers that harness the weirdness of
quantum mechanics could smash conventional encryption
systems by factoring gigantic numbers fast-and factoring the
product of two large prime numbers is the only way standard
codes can be broken.
The job would take conventional computers decades, not
minutes. This ability to perform a single calculation on two
numbers at once is what makes quantum computing so valuable,
especially in factoring for decryption. Instead of factoring
by trying out lots of answers one after another, as a
conventional computer would, a quantum computer can,
essentially, try all at the same time.
China and Cuba have joined forces, at the Bejucal electronic
base, to work on the development of such computers. Only
MIT, the University of Michigan, and the University of
Innsbruck, Austria, are known to be working in this new and
important field.
China’s new venture in Cuba will:
· Enhance China’s military capability
· Jeopardize U.S. national security interests
· Pose a direct threat to the United States
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