The Hidden Weapons That Could Plunge America Into Digital Darkness

In ancient China, the term shashoujian (杀手锏), or “Assassin’s Mace,” referred to a secret weapon used to overcome a superior adversary with a sudden, decisive strike. Today, Chinese military planners have adapted the concept into a doctrine of asymmetric warfare by developing modern “Assassin’s Maces” to exploit America’s hidden vulnerabilities. These weapons are designed to strike at the most opportune moment, known in Chinese as shi (势).

I’ve spent years thinking about what this means for America’s vulnerable critical infrastructure. The more you look, the clearer it becomes: these weapons are not aimed at our tanks or aircraft carriers. They’re aimed at what ties everything together. Our networks. Our data centers. Our satellites. Our invisible systems that power everything from military operations to hospitals, utilities, and financial markets.

To better serve the communities they represent, state leaders must be equipped with the knowledge to understand the weapons China will wield against our critical, civilian infrastructure in the opening days of conflict.

Here are six of the most critical Assassin’s Maces that could strike first:

Cloud Eraser

While EMPs of the past relied on the detonation of nuclear payloads in the upper atmosphere, modern systems can include drone-mounted electromagnetic pulse generators capable of more precise targeting. What once required a sledgehammer can now be attempted with a scalpel. Due to the fact that America’s data centers are often highly centralized and undefended, Cloud Erasers can disrupt or damage critical cloud infrastructure within minutes.

Deep Cutter

What may outwardly appear to be a civilian maritime vessel could in fact be this next Mace: a patented undersea cable cutter that dredges along the ocean floor, severing fiber optic cables up to 4,000 meters below the surface. More than 90% of global internet traffic depends on these deep sea cables, and a coordinated strike by Deep Cutter could sever transoceanic communication.

Constellation Killer

In the blink of an eye, China could destroy all of America’s low-earth orbit satellites using either kinetic or directed-energy weapons. A single strike can trigger a chain reaction known as a Kessler Cascade, where shattered satellites collide into others, creating a maelstrom of low-earth orbit debris. Although the United States operates the majority of LEO satellites, China has relatively few. This makes Constellation Killer a low-risk, high-reward strategy.

Cyber Attack

China’s cyber capabilities are the most deeply embedded of the Assassin’s Maces. Chinese-manufactured boards, chips, and switches are widely used across U.S. networks, raising concerns about potential hardware and firmware vulnerabilities. In May 2025, U.S. investigators uncovered rogue communication devices in Chinese-made solar inverters and batteries. As fears grow over supply chain integrity, millions of networked devices are now viewed as possible tools for digital disruption, echoing Sun Tzu’s warning: “Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.”

Blended Domains

America’s traditional separation of military and civilian infrastructure becomes a liability in a conflict with China’s People’s Liberation Army. The PLA’s Blended Domains philosophy, described in Unrestricted Warfare, the 1999 PLA book, outlines a coordinated “cocktail” of social, economic, and informational tactics aimed at degrading societal cohesion before the first shot is fired. As PLA Colonels Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui wrote, “all the boundaries lying between the two worlds of war and non-war, of military and non-military, will be totally destroyed.”

AI Supremacy

Most people view America as having the upper hand when it comes to AI. But China’s decades of investment in resilient digital infrastructure mean they could gain significant advantage in an AI-dependent conflict. True dominance in AI isn’t just about algorithms—it depends on the physical infrastructure that supports them. The future battlefield may not be decided by firepower, but by whichever side can keep their systems online when it matters most.

America's Digital Vulnerability

America’s digital systems were designed for efficiency, not endurance. Centralized architectures, single points of failure, and cost-driven shortcuts have created a fragile foundation. One targeted strike can trigger ripple effects that bring entire sectors to a halt.

States leaders need to understand that these capabilities are real, and they exist today. The only unknown is timing. Preparing for that moment will require more than policy shifts or software updates. It demands a different way of thinking about the digital systems we depend on. States need infrastructure that can take a hit and keep going.

That’s exactly why we created the Resilient Digital Infrastructure Framework—a practical approach to designing systems that can endure disruption and recover fast.

Download the white paper to learn how to shift our vulnerable critical infrastructure to critical infrastructure that’s ready for anything.

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¹ Inside the Ring: China advances EMP weapons - Washington Times
² China Conflict: Cutting Undersea Cables - Newsweek
³ The Assassin’s Mace - The New Atlantis
⁴ Ghost Machine: Rogue Devices in Chinese Inverters - Reuters
⁵ Unrestricted Warfare - Wikipedia
⁶ China’s Algorithmic Warfare - CENJOWS
⁷ The PLA and Intelligent Warfare - CNA