FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies to the Senate Nov. 17, 2022 (Video screenshot)

The chief of the FBI is warning that China already has "burrowed" into critical infrastructure in the United States and now is just waiting for "the right moment to deal a devastating blow."

The FBI's Christopher Wray said in a Reuters report that an ongoing hacking campaign, known already as Volt Typhoon, has gained access to American telecommunications, energy, water and other companies, including pipeline operators.

Wray charged China is assembling the "ability to physically wreak havoc on our critical infrastructure at a time of its choosing. … Its plan is to land low blows against civilian infrastructure to try to induce panic."

The report explained, "Wray said it was difficult to determine the intent of this cyber pre-positioning which was aligned with China's broader intent to deter the U.S. from defending Taiwan."

That is a fast-developing conflict that has the potential to draw the United States into a fight on the other side of the globe. China claims it owns Taiwan, while Taiwan says its own people will decide their future.

China has suggested that Volt Typhoon has nothing to do with the government, but is a criminal ransomware group.

WND has reported several times on the threat of China infiltrating and damaging American infrastructure.

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In February, it was the Epoch Times that reported on CISA documentation that the Communist regime is installing "malware" in key U.S. systems in preparation for the chance that there would be a major conflict.

"A Feb. 7 advisory released by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) seeks 'to warn critical infrastructure organizations' about China’s attempts to infiltrate, disrupt, and destroy vital U.S. facilities," explained a report in the Epoch Times.

CISA warned, "[Chinese] state-sponsored cyber actors are seeking to pre-position themselves on IT networks for disruptive or destructive cyberattacks against U.S. critical infrastructure in the event of a major crisis or conflict with the United States."

That threatening computer code would be intended "to launch destructive cyber-attacks that would jeopardize the physical safety of Americans and impede military readiness," the agency warning said.

The report noted a week earlier, 'intelligence experts confirmed the U.S. already had removed Chinese malware from more than 600 computer systems linked to 'critical U.S. infrastructure.'"

A report about that same time frame said China was capable of launching cyberattacks against critical United States infrastructure, including oil and gas pipelines as well as rail systems, based on the discovery of a Chinese hacking group reaching into various networks.

And report from late last year said China's threat included schemes to disrupt power and water supplies, communications and even transportation.

Experts quoted by the Washington Post explained that hackers linked to China's People's Liberation Army already have succeeded in breaching "the computer systems of about two dozen critical entities over the past year."

The goal, the report describes, is to find ways to "sow panic and chaos or snarl logistics in the event of a U.S.-China conflict in the Pacific."

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