‘China has made it clear that they can—and will—target and attack America’s critical infrastructure,’ the governor said.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has issued two more executive orders targeting Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence in his state, after announcing an initial order on Nov. 18 aimed at protecting local dissidents from the Chinese regime’s harassment.
Abbott signed Executive Order No. GA-49 on Nov. 20 to safeguard critical infrastructure from cyberattacks and issued Executive Order No. GA-48 on Nov. 19 to protect Texans from the CCP’s espionage operations.
Executive Order No. GA-49 directs the Texas Division of Emergency Management and the Public Utility Commission of Texas to prepare for any potential cyberattacks aimed at the state’s critical infrastructure.
Under Abbott’s order, the two agencies will create a task force to study potential vulnerabilities within government systems and critical infrastructure, run response simulations to cyberattacks, and put together a committee of state agencies to “simulate a restart of Texas’ electric grid in the event of a foreign attack,” according to a Wednesday statement.
“China has made it clear that they can—and will—target and attack America’s critical infrastructure,” Abbott said in the statement. “Texas will continue to protect our critical infrastructure to ensure the safety of Texans from potential threats by the Chinese Communist Party or any hostile foreign government.”
The order highlighted Volt Typhoon, one of China’s state-sponsored threat groups, and how it had targeted communications, energy, transportation, water, and wastewater systems in the United States and its territories.
Volt Typhoon, which was dismantled by a multi-agency operation in January, had maintained “access and footholds within some victim IT environments for at least five years,” the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said in February.
The order also cited FBI Director Christopher Wray’s warnings at the Vanderbilt Summit in Nashville in April, when he said that China “has made it clear that it considers every sector that makes our society run as fair game in its bid to dominate on the world stage.”
By Frank Fang
