China’s state-run media Xinhua published a news article on February 6, 2013, about U.S. Defense Secretary Panetta’s speech at Georgetown University. The article particularly focused on Mr. Panetta’s answer to a question regarding cyber attacks. It said that Mr. Panetta issued a warning about the threat of a cyberwar and said cyberspace would inevitably be one of the future battlefields.
The article reported that Panetta called on Congress to strengthen the Defense Department’s cyberwar capability and warned that the next “Pearl Harbor” might very well happen on the battlefield of cyberspace.
The article also stated that the “cyber warfare capability is one of the [U.S.] Defense Department ‘s priorities in the area of development. U.S. media have reported that the Defense Department approved an expansion of the manpower in Internet security by five times over the next few years in order to deal with Internet security challenges and launch cyber attacks against foreign targets. At the same time, the U.S. is reviewing the legal procedures and policies involving the application of Internet weapons.”
Source: Xinhua, February 6, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2013-02/07/c_124333555.htm?prolongation=1
http://www.defense.gov/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=5189