Ex-Pentagon Official Warns China, Russia Target US Undersea Cables for Economic Chaos

The U.S. economy faces threats from adversaries like China that could target undersea cables to inflict devastating economic chaos almost at will, a former U.S. intelligence official warned Sunday.

These cables carry 99% of global data and support up to $10 trillion in daily financial transactions, according to reports.

Andrew Badger, chief strategy officer at Coalition Systems, a defense tech startup, made the comments as President Donald Trump prepares to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. The talks are expected to focus on trade, artificial intelligence and Taiwan.

Taiwan, a flashpoint in U.S.-China tensions, has reported about 30 subsea cable incidents in recent years. Those include one case where Chinese vessels allegedly severed cables and cut communications for months.

"America depends on the fragile nervous system of subsea cables for modern life," Badger, a former Pentagon official and author, told Fox News Digital. He warned that U.S. adversaries seek to turn the bottom of the ocean into a battlefield.

"The asymmetric threat — China and Russia are devoting far more resources to attacking undersea infrastructure than the U.S. or its allies are to defending it," Badger said.

"They've identified one of our greatest vulnerabilities, and we haven't caught up. A coordinated strike on American undersea infrastructure could fundamentally disrupt our way of life — the internet, banking, energy markets and military communications all run through these cables. The dollar cost is almost incalculable, and the real damage would be the chaos and political instability that would follow," he said.

Badger spoke after Senate Republican Whip John Barrasso of Wyoming and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire introduced the bipartisan Strategic Subsea Cables Act of 2026 in April. The legislation aims to strengthen the security and resilience of critical undersea infrastructure.

"Undersea cables are important for a variety of reasons. They carry 99% of the world’s internet traffic. They also support $10 trillion in financial transactions each and every day," Barrasso said in a statement.

In April, China’s Ministry of Natural Resources confirmed a successful deep-sea mission testing an advanced electro-hydrostatic actuator. The device can slice through armored submarine cables at depths of 3,500 meters, according to reports.

Similar suspicious disruptions have occurred in Europe and elsewhere. Those raise concerns about coordinated gray-zone operations designed to probe Western responses while staying below the threshold of open conflict.

"This is hybrid warfare in its purest form, designed to weaken the adversary below the threshold of declared war," Badger said. He noted that incidents such as anchors dragging across the seabed can provide plausible deniability.

"Cables give Beijing and Moscow the ability to inflict devastating economic chaos almost at will," Badger warned. "This gives both nations tremendous strategic leverage over the U.S."

China could also target American undersea cables as a deterrent to U.S. engagement in Taiwan, according to Badger.

"Beijing could simultaneously target cables landing in the U.S., not to win militarily, but with the goal of breaking the American public's will to intervene in Taiwan," he said.

China claims Taiwan as its own territory. The U.S., Taiwan’s largest unofficial ally, supplies weapons under a law requiring it to help the island defend itself.

The Taiwan Strait serves as a critical artery for the artificial intelligence revolution’s most essential resources.