Russian Navy Physically Targeting the Internet?

Russian Akula-class submarine.
(Public doman image courtesy Wikipedia.)

Russian subs and surface ships are “aggressively operating” near the undersea cables that make the Internet the Internet:

Inside the Pentagon and the nation’s intelligence agencies, the assessments of Russia’s increasing activities are highly classified and not publicly discussed in detail. American officials are secretive about what they are doing to both monitor the activity and find ways to recover quickly if cables are cut. But more than half a dozen officials confirmed in broad terms that it had become the source of significant attention in the Pentagon.

“I’m worried every day about what the Russians may be doing,” said Rear Adm. Frederick J. Roegge, commander of the Navy’s submarine fleet in the Pacific, who would not answer questions about potential Russian plans for cutting the undersea cables.

Cmdr. William Marks, a Navy spokesman in Washington, said: “It would be a concern to hear any country was tampering with communication cables; however, due to the classified nature of submarine operations, we do not discuss specifics.”

During the Cold War, we used subs to secretly tap Russian undersea communications cables. Pretty sure that in a hot war they’d kick off the festivities by cutting ours.