US Lawmaker Slams China for Cyber Spying

WASHINGTON - The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee has accused China of waging an unprecedented campaign of cyber espionage aimed at stealing some of the most important U.S. industrial secrets.

Chairman Mike Rogers, a Michigan Republican, says that Chinese efforts to steal U.S. technology via the Internet have reached what he called an "intolerable level," and has called on the United States and its allies to pressure Beijing to stop.

At a committee hearing Tuesday, Rogers conceded that it is difficult to identify with certainty the source of the highly sophisticated, well-financed cyber intrusions that have breached the defenses of major U.S. industries in recent years.

But he said there is little doubt among cyber security specialists that the Chinese government is behind much of what he called cyber "piracy."