Cyberattack hits US water utility, affecting 14 million customers
American Water Works, the largest regulated water and wastewater utility in the United States, reported a cyberattack on Monday, Oct. 7. The breach impacted more than 14 million customers across 14 states and 18 military installations.
The Camden, a New Jersey-based company, said it detected unauthorized activity within its computer networks on Oct. 3, prompting immediate protective measures, including shutting down certain systems to contain the breach.
American Water emphasized that its water and wastewater operations were not affected by the attack. However, the company paused its billing systems as a precaution and assured customers they will not face late fees while the systems are offline.
The company is working with third-party cybersecurity experts and law enforcement to investigate the incident and determine its full scope.
In a regulatory filing, American Water said it could not yet predict the full impact of the breach but it does not expect the incident to materially affect its financial condition or operations. The company operates more than 500 water and wastewater systems in about 1,700 communities.
The cyberattack comes as U.S. officials express increasing concern over vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure. Recently, U.S. authorities warned of foreign actors, including Chinese intelligence services, targeting sectors like water treatment facilities and broadband providers.
Trump wants 200% tariff on foreign cars, here’s how to tell where a car was made
Former President Donald Trump is warning automakers not to move their production to Mexico. During a campaign speech in Wisconsin, Trump said he’d put a 200% tariff on vehicles that are made south of the border.
“They think they’re going to build them cheap and sell them into our country and destroy Michigan and all these wonderful states,” Trump told the crowd. “We’ll put a tariff of 200% on if we have to. We’re not going to let it happen. We’re not letting those cars come into the United States and destroy our car industry, you won’t have anything left.”
According to Reuters, about 3 million vehicles came into the United States from Mexico in 2023. About half belonged to Ford, Stellantis and General Motors.
Trump previously said he’d put a 100% tariff on imported cars and trucks.
According to the Tax Policy Center (TPC), if Trump implemented the tariff, it would increase the price of imported and domestic vehicles, both new and used. The TPC also said it could lead to layoffs for American workers.
President Joe Biden placed a 100% tariff on electric vehicles made in China because he said the country was subsidizing the extraordinarily low prices in order to get a foothold in the market.
There are multiple ways to learn where a vehicle was made, both before or after it’s bought. The easiest is searching the VIN.
If the VIN starts with a 1, 4, or 5 it was made in America. If it starts with another number or letter it was likely made somewhere else. The country of origin could be as close as Canada or Mexico or as far as Asia.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has a VIN decoder which provides detailed information about a car.
Searching cars from a local dealership can be enlightening. The Ford Bronco is made in Mexico along with the Chevy Blazer. Toyota Corolla models with standard gas engines are often built in Blue Springs, Mississippi while Corolla hybrids are built in Japan.
Harris and Trump both make national debt worse, ‘especially Trump’
Policies proposed by former President Donald Trump would add more than twice as much to the national debt as policies proposed by Vice President Kamala Harris, according to a bipartisan analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. The middle estimate for Harris’ plans is that they increase the debt by $3.5 trillion through 2035, whereas Trump’s middle estimate adds $7.5 trillion.
On the low end of the range, Harris adds nothing while Trump adds $1.45 trillion. On the high end, Harris’ proposals have the ability to add $8.1 trillion while Trump’s tops out at $15.15 trillion.
“The bottom line is that we are already adding tremendously to the national debt under current law, and both candidates would make that even worse, especially President Trump,” Marc Goldwein, senior vice president and senior policy director at CRFB, said.
The national debt today is nearly $35.7 trillion. It currently costs more than $1 trillion in interest payments to maintain the current debt load.
We don’t endorse a particular candidate and we didn’t go in this trying to come up with a particular outcome. This is just the math.
Marc Goldwein, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
Straight Arrow News interviewed CRFB’s Goldwein for more information about the group’s economic analysis of both candidates. The following has been edited for clarity. Watch the full interview in the video above.
Simone Del Rosario: Why should voters care about the debt?
Marc Goldwein: Look, debt is eating our income growth. Debt is what causes inflation, what causes high interest rates and what causes interest payments to now be the second largest government program, larger than defense, larger than Medicare, and leaving less room for us to invest in just about anything else.
Simone Del Rosario: Your middle estimates for both candidates show that Harris would add about $3.5 trillion to the debt over the next decade while Trump would add $7.5 trillion in debt. What are the policies that are specifically adding to the debt for these two different candidates?
Marc Goldwein: For Vice President Harris, it’s [the] extension of some parts of the tax cuts from 2017, it’s a very big child tax credit, and then it’s a bunch of spending on everything from paid leave to childcare to long-term care to preschool, partially paid for with taxes on the rich and on corporations.
For President Trump, it’s mostly just a lot of tax cuts. We have a full extension of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, getting rid of the cap on the SALT deduction, no taxes on tips, no taxes on overtime, no taxes on Social Security benefits. And then on top of that, deportations and higher spending on defense; again, partially offset, mainly with tariffs, but in neither case are those offsets covering the costs.
Simone Del Rosario: Do your tariff estimates also include that 60% tariff on China?
Marc Goldwein: We do. Our central estimate assumes that there’s a 10% universal tariff. It’s 60% on China, and in addition, there’s some retaliatory tariffs on a one-off basis. But the important thing with these tariffs is, if they work as intended, they will reduce trade, and so they don’t raise as much revenue as you might think, just taking 10% of all of our imports, for example.
Marc Goldwein: That’s right, the tariffs could pay for some of the tax cuts, but they’ll barely cover the no taxes on tips and no taxes on overtime. They aren’t going to cover the $8 trillion-plus of tax cuts that President Trump is proposing.
Simone Del Rosario: And then, on the other hand, Marc, there is no guarantee that a potential President Harris would get those tax hikes on the rich that she’s looking for.
Marc Goldwein: That’s right. Look, in both the cases, these are highly speculative, because we’re analyzing what they’re calling for, not what will actually happen. In the real world, these offsets are hard. It’s hard to get taxes on the rich, taxes on corporations, tariffs, lower drug prices. It’s also hard to get some of the spending. So these are not predictions of what will happen. These are estimates of what would happen if the candidate’s plans were enacted in full.
Simone Del Rosario: So what should voters do with this information?
Marc Goldwein: They should demand offsets. Look, a debt is just tax on future generations. It’s a huge burden in terms of slower income growth, higher interest rates, higher inflation. And we need the candidates to be paying for their promises, and if they can’t, we need those promises to be scaled way back.
Simone Del Rosario: What aren’t you hearing from the candidates that you wish you were hearing at this point in the race?
Marc Goldwein: Social Security is nine years from insolvency. I’m not hearing a plan from either candidate to prevent that 21% across-the-board cut that’s scheduled to happen under current law.
Simone Del Rosario: And peel back the curtain for me a little bit and just explain how you guys went about this analysis. I assume it took you a very long time to do so.
Marc Goldwein: We went painstakingly through both candidates websites, through their platforms, through their speeches. We talked to the campaign staff, we looked at news articles, and we tried to discern what are official campaign policies, how do we interpret them, and how much do they cost? And each step of the way, we need to make a lot of choices, which is why we have a low-cost estimate and a high-cost estimate reflecting the range of possibilities, along with our central estimate.
I have to give credit to [my] amazing staff that put many, many, many hours into this over the last year, estimating every last policy, including policies that didn’t even make it to the finish line because they were rejected or because they were policies from the Biden campaign that didn’t make it over to the Harris campaign. But it’s an incredible amount of work and I recommend you checking out the report at CRFB.org. It’s pretty lengthy, but we have a short summary at the front that I think gives all the most important details.
Simone Del Rosario: Here at Straight Arrow News, we’re about unbiased, straight facts. We like to bring nonpartisan information to people so that they can decide for themselves as they get ready to vote in this upcoming election. How should people interpret these findings? Are they at all partisan?
Marc Goldwein: Look, we don’t endorse a particular candidate and we didn’t go in this trying to come up with a particular outcome. This is just the math. We looked at the candidate’s plans and this is what we think they would add to the debt.
You then need to weigh that against the benefits of whatever the candidates are offering. So one voter might say, sure they add a trillion dollars to the debt, but it’s for this very important policy; or sure they balance the budget, neither of them do, but let’s say they did, but they do in this awful way.
So fiscal policy, how much they add to the debt, should be just one consideration among many. I happen to think it’s a pretty darn important one because our debt is headed to the largest share of the economy it’s ever been. We’re heading to record levels of debt and I do fear we have a debt crisis on the horizon if we don’t do something.
But you need to vote based on what matters most to you, and this information is just meant to inform your decision, not to dictate it.
Simone Del Rosario: I want to thank you and your team for your analysis. We rely on you guys often to get the straight facts when it comes to how these policies impact our debt and our country. So thank you so much, Marc.
US investigates Chinese hackers’ breach of major telecom providers
Chinese hackers breached major U.S. telecommunications providers, including Verizon, AT&T and Lumen, in what U.S. officials believe to be a wide-reaching espionage operation. The hackers, linked to China’s Ministry of State Security, may have accessed sensitive information related to U.S. surveillance and federal wiretap requests, raising significant national security concerns.
The FBI, along with U.S. intelligence agencies and the Department of Homeland Security, launched an investigation into the breach, which officials said could have broader implications beyond federal wiretaps.
The hackers reportedly exploited vulnerabilities in the telecommunications networks, including reconfiguring Cisco routers, to gain undetected access and extract sensitive data, according to officials familiar with the matter.
The operation, referred to internally as “Salt Typhoon,” shared similarities with previous Chinese cyber campaigns, such as the 2010 “Operation Aurora” that targeted U.S. companies, but it is distinct from the more recent “Volt Typhoon” operation, which infiltrated critical U.S. infrastructure.
In the Volt Typhoon breaches, hackers gained access to energy, water and transportation systems, potentially preparing for disruptive attacks in the event of a future U.S.-China conflict.
U.S. officials have not yet determined the full extent of the breach or the specific data obtained by the hackers. However, early reports suggested it may have included information regarding lawful intercept systems used in criminal and national security investigations.
The U.S. government previously responded to similar incidents by taking control of compromised routers and devices used by Chinese state-backed hackers to spy on U.S. organizations.
Despite shared global interests in cybersecurity, officials expressed frustration over China’s refusal to cooperate in addressing these ongoing cyber threats. U.S. officials have raised concerns about Beijing’s commitment to global cybersecurity collaboration.
China’s embassy in Washington dismissed the allegations, accusing the U.S. of spreading disinformation to secure government contracts and funding for intelligence agencies.
“In fact, China is one of the main victims of cyberattacks,” a Chinese embassy spokesperson said in a statement.
The spokesperson also claimed the U.S. was fabricating evidence against Beijing.
The breach is the latest in a series of cyber espionage campaigns attributed to China. In addition to infiltrating U.S. telecommunications and critical infrastructure, Chinese hackers have also conducted disinformation campaigns aimed at undermining confidence in Western institutions.
As investigations continue, U.S. officials are working to assess the scope of the damage and any potential impact on national security.
Russia and Pakistan forced into barter system due to sanctions
Russia and Pakistan are bypassing international sanctions with some old fashioned bartering. Instead of using currency, the two are exchanging goods like mandarin oranges and chickpeas.
This development comes as Russia faces mounting challenges getting basic needs for its citizens and engaging in the global financial market. Sanctions on the country have forced it out of lucrative trade deals due to its invasion of Ukraine.
In particular, U.S. secondary sanctions have made foreign lenders wary of facilitating any trade that might bolster Russia’s war efforts. The effects have been felt even between the “no limits partners” China and Russia, where 98% of Chinese banks were declining Russian payments by August.
In response, Russia and Pakistan have found a potential workaround: a barter trade mechanism.
At the first-ever Pakistan-Russia Trade and Investment Forum, held in Moscow on Tuesday, Oct. 1, the two countries outlined a deal that avoids traditional financial transactions altogether.
Under the agreement, Russia will send 20,000 tons of chickpeas to Pakistan in exchange for the same quantity of rice. Additionally, Pakistan will be sending 10,000 tons of potatoes and 15,000 tons of mandarin oranges for Russian lentils and even more chickpeas.
The Pakistani Deputy Minister of Trade Nasir Hamid said that difficulties in making payments have forced the partner countries to opt for the barter mechanism.
Russia is no stranger to bartering, it even made similar deals with China during the Cold War. That practice continued far into the 1990s. As new rounds of U.S. sanctions affect Moscow’s trade relations, it seems that bartering is once again becoming a viable solution.
The total export value from the Pakistani side alone is expected to exceed half a billion dollars.
China rejects US plea for action on Houthi shipping attacks
China declined a U.S. request to take joint international action to counter missile attacks on global shipping by Houthi rebels in Yemen, a senior American diplomat said Thursday, Oct. 3. Instead, Beijing reportedly encouraged the Iranian-backed Houthis to target non-Chinese vessels, according to U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell.
Speaking at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Campbell criticized China’s response as “profoundly unhelpful,” raising doubts about its commitment to global cooperation.
The conflict, driven by Houthi missile and drone attacks, has severely disrupted vital shipping lanes through the Red Sea since late 2023, affecting trade routes between Europe and China.
Nearly 99% of container ships traveling between Europe and China pass through the Suez Canal and Red Sea.
Following the attacks, roughly half of these vessels were forced to divert to the longer and more expensive route around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, Campbell said.
The U.S. sought to collaborate with China, which maintains a naval base in Djibouti, to safeguard shipping lanes from the Houthis. However, China chose to communicate directly with the rebels, requesting they avoid Chinese vessels while continuing attacks on others.
Iran, which is under international sanctions and is a key ally of the Houthi rebels, sells 90% of its oil to China, giving Beijing diplomatic leverage.
Despite these close ties, Campbell expressed frustration over China’s failure to take a more proactive role in addressing the crisis.
China has long-standing relationships with many Middle Eastern countries, including Iran and Saudi Arabia, and played a pivotal role in brokering the restoration of diplomatic ties between the two nations in 2023.
US charges 5 Chinese nationals for lying about visit to Michigan military base
Five Chinese nationals who claimed they visited a U.S. military site to watch a meteor shower in August of 2023 are now facing federal charges. The U.S. government said that on Tuesday, Oct. 1, the men covered up their true intentions.
The men are now charged with lying to investigators, “conspiracy and destruction, alteration or falsification of records in federal investigations.” U.S. authorities say the men, who were University of Michigan students at the time, secretly took photos of military vehicles at Camp Grayling in Michigan.
A U.S. sergeant major reportedly found the group of men in a heavily restricted area near the base during one the United States largest National Guard exercises known as Northern Strike. The drills included U.S. military from across the country and members of the Taiwanese military.
The five men were reportedly wearing “headlamps” and had cameras with them at the time of their encounter with the U.S. soldier, and claimed they were “media” there to see “shooting stars,” the sergeant major said in an affidavit. He then ordered them to leave and followed them to a hotel where they checked in.
Later that year, the men were interviewed by U.S. Border Protection and Customs officers and all but one of them mentioned the encounter with the U.S. soldier.
Investigators found one of the men in possession of two images of military vehicles on an external hard drive. The pictures were reportedly taken two hours before running into the U.S. sergeant major.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) also discovered messages on WeChat, a Chinese messaging app, talking about whether to erase the photos or not. FBI agents believe the group talked about their encounter and tried to align their stories while deleting incriminating pictures.
U.S. authorities say the men are not yet in custody but if they enter the United States, they will be arrested.
US could eliminate Russia and China’s nuclear capabilities in 2 hours: Study
The United States and its allies possess enough conventional weapons and delivery systems to neutralize all of Russia and China’s nuclear launch sites within approximately two hours, according to a study by two British researchers. The study, titled “Masters of the Air: Strategic Stability and Conventional Strikes,” made the claim that sparked debate.
Matt Shoemaker is a former U.S. intelligence officer. He completed his PhD work in Nuclear War Strategy at King’s College in London. Straight Arrow News reached out to Shoemaker for some more context on the study’s assertions.
“That is an extraordinary claim that requires extraordinary evidence to support it,” Shoemaker said. “This particular report does not hold up from what I can see.”
Shoemaker’s assessment is based on his experience working on the Chinese nuclear forces desk and the Russia desk.
“When I see a report claiming that the United States and its allies can eliminate Chinese and Russian nuclear capabilities within two hours using conventional weaponry, my first question is, ‘Who is making this claim?’” Shoemaker added.
The claim came from Professor Dan Plesch, who co-authored the “Masters of the Air” study.
“Back in the 1960s, as a teenager, I was extremely interested in the nuclear threat and subscribed to the International Institute for Strategic Studies journals before I went to college,” Plesch said.
Plesch was involved in the U.K.’s anti-nuclear campaign in the 1970s and 80s and founded the British American Security Information Council (BASIC) in 1985, a think tank focused on nuclear disarmament. Today, he is a professor of diplomacy and strategy at SOAS University of London, where he raises awareness about the proliferation of conventional weapons.
“Some years ago, I wrote a piece for The Conversation about a non-nuclear world war and the viability of conventional counterforce, which has had about a quarter of a million reads,” Plesch said.
Conventional counterforce is the military tactic of using conventional weapons to target an adversary’s nuclear weapons. During the Cold War, counterforce involved using nuclear weapons to stop nuclear threats.
Today, Plesch argues that the U.S. has the capability to eliminate both Russia and China’s nuclear arsenals without using its own nuclear weapons.
Plesch points to programs like Rapid Dragon, which uses cargo planes to launch pallets of cruise missiles, and the dominance of stealth aircraft as evidence of the West’s decisive advantage over its adversaries.
According to Plesch and others, this imbalance of power could fuel an arms race, with the U.S. and its allies on one side and Russia, China and their allies on the other. Plesch suggested that while the West aims to deter adversaries, China and Russia perceived the buildup of conventional weapons as a direct threat to their strategic stability, leading to a significant misunderstanding.
“If you have this level of misunderstanding and weapons development, it enhances the risk of major war, whether conventional or nuclear,” Plesch said. “Right now, arms control and disarmament are not prioritized.”
Plesch advocated for a path towards disarmament, both conventional and nuclear, and hopes his report will spark conversations on the topic.
However, Shoemaker argues that Plesch’s findings make several assumptions, such as the ease of tracking Russian nuclear submarines and the dominance of Western air power.
“If that were the case, the Cold War would have been a joke, as if we had nothing to worry about,” Shoemaker said.
Shoemaker believes that the significant investment by China and Russia in their nuclear programs indicates their importance and the lengths they will go to protect them.
“To treat this issue flippantly is concerning because it could drive adversaries to overreact and allow us to become complacent,” Shoemaker said.
Can the US take out nuclear weapons in Russia, China?: Weapons and Warfare
This week on Weapons and Warfare, the team reviewed a controversial new paper that makes some extraordinary claims about the U.S. and its ability to deal with its near-peer adversaries. Host Ryan Robertson visited with one of the paper’s authors, as well as a former U.S. military intelligence officer, for his take on the paper’s claims.
Also featured in this episode:
The president green-lights new aid package for Ukraine.
The Department of Defense’s inspector general finds problems with Navy’s E-2D Advanced Hawkeye.
Army Airborne makes an 80th anniversary jump over the Netherlands.
Weapon of the Week: Andruil uses anime to introduce new missile.
You can subscribe to the Weapons and Warfare podcast on the platform of your choosing here.
Chinese drone show sparks global admiration, military concerns
A record-breaking drone display in Shenzhen, China, has raised both admiration around the globe, and concern from the West. The 10,000-drone spectacle took place on Sept. 26 to celebrate Chinese National Day. It has garnered widespread attention for its scale and precision, sparking conversations about China’s growing technological capabilities and the potential military implications of such advancements.
The event, titled “City of Sky… Maybe Shenzhen,” set two Guinness World Records, making China the first country to orchestrate a synchronized display using over 10,000 drones. The drones created intricate three-dimensional patterns in the sky, showcasing a dazzling feat of programmed technology.
While many praised the technological achievement, critics in the West were quick to label the event as a subtle demonstration of power, warning that such swarms of drones could be deployed in future warfare scenarios.
Concerns are mounting that this aerial fleet could signal a new era in the militarization of drone technology, giving China an edge in terms of uncrewed aerial capabilities.
To counter this, the U.S. has ramped up its efforts to develop anti-drone technology.
The Pentagon’s Replicator 2 initiative is a key part of this push, focusing on combating small, uncrewed aerial systems, which have become a growing threat in global conflict zones.
As the U.S. Defense Department enters the second phase of its autonomous weapons program, it continues to keep China in its crosshairs, racing to innovate in the field of counter-drone weaponry.
Performance Drone Works
Both China and the U.S. are pouring billions into the development of military drone technology.
Despite visionary projects, some analysts fear the U.S. may be falling behind in what is quickly becoming a critical aspect of future warfare.
As drone technology evolves, it is likely to play an increasingly central role in determining how wars are fought — and ultimately, won.
