Recent attacks by Ukraine and Israel are warnings about America’s internal security vulnerabilities. Traditional defense has been outward facing. Now it is clear that defense must be inward facing too. The serious need for reevaluation is only made more so by the last four years of lax immigration enforcement.
Ukraine’s attack on Russia’s nuclear bombers and Israel’s attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities were pathbreaking. Both were as much espionage and logistical feats as military ones. Each required consummate planning, precision, and execution. They also required Ukraine and Israel to have significant pre-attack penetration of their adversaries.
On June 1, Ukraine pulled off perhaps its most stunning surprise attack in its three-year war with Russia. In what it called “Operation Spider’s Web,” Ukraine struck over 40 Russian aircraft—including a significant number of nuclear bombers—at numerous bases throughout Russia. It did so by using over one hundred drones that had been concealed beneath retractable roofs of wooden sheds. These sheds had been taken to locations near the targeted air bases; their concealed drones were then piloted remotely. By so doing, Ukraine was able to vastly increase the range and efficacy of its drone attacks.
Less than two weeks after Ukraine’s stunning attack from within Russia came Israel’s devastating assault on Iran’s military and nuclear facilities. Dubbed “Operation Rising Lion,” the attack came in two waves. First, small explosive drones which had been snuck into Iran months earlier hit air-defense and communications installations. Second, Israeli air force jets followed immediately, striking nuclear and military targets across Iran.
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Beyond stunning successes, the common thread is the use of inexpensive drones to launch devastating strikes against far more valuable targets. The other commonality is that the drones had been smuggled into the targeted countries and concealed for a substantial amount of time—both despite Russia and Iran knowing that they were likely targets of attack.
The warning for America could not be clearer. And while we are not yet in a direct conflict (as Russia is), we could be in danger of imminent conflict (as Iran was). America has plenty of cautionary signs that we are a possible target for many—most notably China and terrorist organizations.
China’s signals that it is targeting America are almost constant. The most recent evidence is an FBI report that China tried to influence the 2020 presidential election by shipping in fake driver's licenses. There is no shortage of additional evidence.
Earlier this month, two Chinese nationals were charged in the U.S. for trying to smuggle in a deadly fungus that could be used for agroterrorism by infecting farm fields. There has been growing concern over Chinese purchases of farmland around U.S. bases. The same applies to China’s ability to spy on Americans through products and services such as TikTok. In New York City, two Chinese nationals were arrested in 2023 for operating a shadow Chinese police station.
According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, from 2000-2023, there were well over 200 reported instances of Chinese spying on the U.S.—and these are just the publicly reported cases; they do not include IP theft or attempts to smuggle in controlled substances. Chinese government hacking is yet a further problem.
China is hardly America’s only internal concern. Numerous anti-Israel rallies and pro-Hamas sympathizers are further warnings. Iran’s long-standing animus—now only amplified by its stinging defeats—toward the U.S. is another.
Glaringly, both Russia and Iran are authoritarian states with no qualms about internal surveillance and ample reason to be on their guards. In contrast, the U.S. had a virtually open border for four years. Even the exact number of those who crossed into the country are unknown; however, the guesstimate exceeds ten million.
Even if the ones we know were the only ones (and they certainly aren’t), a large number on the terrorist watch list have come across. So too, over 170,000 Chinese.
Compound this unknown influx with the ease by which relatively inexpensive items for an attack could be obtained in the U.S.; unlike Russia and Iran, such items would not have to be smuggled in.
As Russia and Iran discovered: You don’t know what you don’t know. America is in an even worse quandary: We know that we don’t know a substantial amount about potential threats, plus we also don’t know about millions who have entered the country.
As the attacks in Russia and Iran dramatically demonstrate, national defense not only has to look outward; it must now look inward too. The U.S. must be particularly aware, because for four years, it was not looking at all.
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