• In 2022, the U.S. military will covertly install undersea internet cables at a small naval logistics base in the Indian Ocean to bolster the Pentagon’s ability to counter China, according to Reuters.
• The project reveals the enormous role played by a single company, Subcomm, in the escalating economic and national security war between the United States and China.
• According to Reuters, Operation “Big Wave” was cloaked in a $300 million commercial project whose viability was questioned.

The U.S. military built a naval outpost in the Indian Ocean last year, backed by Subcomm, a New Jersey-based undersea cable maker that has played a leading role in covert Pentagon espionage for decades, according to a Reuters investigation. Carefully laid super high speed internet link. .

The Department of Defense contracted Subcom to build the cable. Naval Support Facility Diego GarciaLocated on a footprint-shaped coral atoll, the facility is tasked with serving the logistical needs of the U.S. and British navies in the Indian Ocean to enhance readiness in areas that China seeks to control. according to to Reuters. Operation “Big Wave” represents part of a larger technology and defense battle between the United States and China, with lesser-known companies playing a larger role in shaping the future of U.S. national security. represents a role.

Subcomm’s CS Dependable installed a high-speed fiber optic cable to Diego Garcia in February 2022, according to Reuters. (Related: President Janet Yellen arrives in Beijing, Xi tells Chinese military to double down on war preparations)

“The resilience, redundancy and security of the U.S. Pacific Fleet is a top priority for the U.S. Pacific Fleet,” a U.S. Navy spokesperson told Reuters in a statement, acknowledging the existence of the cable to Diego Garcia for the first time.

The Navy provides a platform for spying on Chinese submarines and warships, coordinating operations between military bases spread around the world, two people in the submarine cable industry who have contracted with the U.S. government in the past told Reuters. Needs a subcomb to adjust.

Undersea internet cables facilitate 99% of transcontinental internet traffic, including military secrets, sent over secure networks, according to Reuters. However, state actors can weaponize private and state-owned companies that build undersea cable infrastructure for espionage and sabotage of undersea communication lines.

The Biden administration also wants to leverage subcomms as a tool. win Industry sources told Reuters they hoped that more undersea cables controlled by U.S. firms in an economic race with China would help the U.S. maintain its dominance over global internet communications.

“SubCom is essential if the US wants to control submarine cables.

SubCom is a New Jersey-based company and one of the largest developers of submarine cables for Silicon Valley giants such as Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta. But the company is also the only company trusted by the Department of Defense (DOD) to lay vast undersea cables on the ocean floor, some of which were intended to support US spying capabilities worldwide, he said. Reuters reports, citing two knowledgeable Subcomm officials and two U.S. Navy officials. of the problem.

Besides SubCom, only Japan’s NEC, France’s Alcatel Submarine Networks and China’s HMN Tech manufacture and install submarine cables. These days, Subcom works almost exclusively for the Pentagon and big tech companies, but declined to comment to Reuters.

Subcom is owned by Cerberus Capital Management, led by billionaire donor and former Trump intelligence adviser Steven Feinberg, according to Reuters. But the company’s history dates back to his 1950s. laid A cable network was installed to collect signals on Soviet submarines before entering commercial routes, according to three former employees.

Cerberus, Feinberg and Subcom did not respond to the media’s request for comment.

Two Subcomm-owned ships, CS Dependable and CS Decisive, form first U.S. government ships cable security fleeta source told Reuters.

A map perspective of Diego Garcia, a strategic island located in the Indian Ocean and home to a major US military base. #map # Geography #Cartography pic.twitter.com/f1tbDq4vZW

— Luca Mazzari (@guyincentocelle) May 15, 2018

Subcom’s mission to lay the cable to Diego Garcia was deliberately hidden in a $300 million commercial contract with Australia-based Subcom for a cable from Perth, Australia to Muscat, Oman, according to Reuters. It is said that

The Oman-Australia Cable entered service in October 2022 and included a connection to the Cocos Islands. according to Based on data from cable mapping company TeleGeography. Although not pictured, his second seam near the Maldives, 7 degrees north of him on the equator, has a landing point in Diego his Garcia.

The Pentagon has funded the project with about $100 million as investors question the need for the entire cable, Reuters reported, citing industry insiders and people familiar with the project.

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