Panetta Warns: US Not Ready for China
Former CIA and Pentagon chief says lessons from Ukraine and the Middle East are changing warfare, and Beijing is closely watching Washington's vulnerabilities.
Former CIA and Pentagon chief says lessons from Ukraine and the Middle East are changing warfare, and Beijing is closely watching Washington's vulnerabilities.
American military and intelligence circles are increasingly warning that the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East are fundamentally changing how major powers assess future wars. According to these assessments, existing planning models are no longer sufficient to address the rapidly evolving threats on the global stage.
Leon Panetta, former director of the CIA and the Pentagon, has explicitly warned that the United States must draw key lessons from the wars in Ukraine and Iran if it is to be prepared for a potential confrontation with China. In his assessment, Beijing is closely monitoring American weaknesses, while Washington is currently not ready for a direct competition with China.
Panetta emphasized that the war in Ukraine has vividly demonstrated how unmanned aerial vehicles can alter the course of a conflict, even against a massive military power like Russia. "Ukraine's use of drones is causing serious economic losses and significant damage, showing the potential this technology possesses," Panetta said.
The former intelligence chief warned that China could apply the same principle against the United States with a mass drone attack targeting American national security. He stressed that the US is currently unprepared for such a scenario and represents a "very vulnerable target" for this type of threat.
In addition to drones, Panetta also drew attention to the development of quantum computing systems. According to him, there are claims that China already possesses such technologies, which further heightens concerns about Beijing's technological edge and the potential for the West to fall behind.
Panetta believes that both Russia and China continuously and carefully assess Washington's resolve. He recalled that, in his view, Vladimir Putin had for years been gauging whether the United States was strong enough to stand up to Moscow. After the American reaction to events in Crimea and the situation in Afghanistan, Panetta believes Putin concluded that the US is weak.
"China is now making its own assessments based on the same picture of American weakness it sees in international relations," Panetta said, adding that this could directly influence Beijing's future strategic decisions. China has long been considered the main potential adversary of the US in American military strategists' plans, which is why virtually all US military planning is based on the assumption of a possible conflict between Washington and Beijing.
At the same time, American military analysts assess that Washington is providing strong support to Kyiv to prevent further strengthening of Russia and to deter Moscow from intensifying military cooperation with China aimed against the United States.
