Is America Ready for the Age of Cyber Warfare? A Conversation With Anne Neuberger

The Foreign Affairs Interview · Sep 18, 2025 · 54m

In 2024, the U.S. government discovered that Chinese hackers had penetrated a huge swath of the American telecommunications system—and remained there for years. That attack came to be known as Salt Typhoon. China has not only managed to steal the data and surveil the communications of hundreds of millions of Americans. It also embedded itself in the United States’ most important infrastructure, giving Beijing a crucial advantage in a conflict.

Anne Neuberger was until recently the top cybersecurity official on the National Security Council. She was in that position when Salt Typhoon was…