China and others have begun to focus on US computer networks as a target for possible high-tech attacks that could cripple anything from telephones to electricity, CIA Director, Mr George Tenet, has claimed.
As President Bill Clinton left for a state visit aimed at strengthening ties with Beijing, Mr Tenet told a Senate panel on Wednesday that the magnitude of the threat from a wide range of potential foes, notably China by implication, was "extraordinary".
He cited the danger of intrusion into networked information systems, tampering with data and "delivery of malicious code".
"We know with specificity of several nations that are working on developing an information warfare capability," he told the Governmental Affairs Committee.
Through high-tech attacks, "information warfare" would exploit growing reliance on the bits and bytes that weave modern societies together for everything from telecommunications to power grids and banking.
"It is clear that nations developing these programs recognise the value of attacking a country's computer systems both on the battlefield and in the civilian arena," Mr Tenet added.
He quoted statements from officials in China, Russia and an unnamed third country to "illustrate the power and the import of information warfare in the decades ahead".
"An adversary wishing to destroy the United States only has to mess up the computer systems of its banks by hightech means," Mr Tenet quoted an article in China's official People's Liberation Daily as saying.
