Commentary
The Chinese spy balloon is just one small example of the threat posed to U.S. national security by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA)’s Strategic Support Force (SSF) which specializes in new, innovative, high-tech, and hybrid warfare.
In 2015, as part of his push for the modernization of the PLA, Chinese leader Xi Jinping commissioned the SSF, which centralizes space warfare, cyberwarfare, electronic warfare, information warfare, communications, and psychological warfare capabilities.
The website of the Ministry of National Defense of the people’s Republic of China describes the SSF as “a new type of combat force” and “driver for growth of new combat capabilities” comprising “forces for battlefield environment, information, communications, information security, new technology testing.”…