Webinar | Does the CCP Think It Can Fight and Win a Nuclear War?

Experts Evaluate the Evidence — and the Implications — if the Answer is ‘Yes’

The spectacle of at least one Chinese spy balloon penetrating sovereign U.S. airspace for the purpose of surveilling and collecting intelligence over three bases housing America’s intercontinental-range ballistic missile, among other national security-sensitive sites, has prompted concern among the American people and appropriately widespread criticism among their elected representatives. Those responses have only been further intensified by the U.S. military’s subsequent intercepts of three “aerial vehicles” whose nature and purpose have yet to be disclosed.

Legitimate questions abound concerning what the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is obtaining via such espionage; how long the CCP has been using balloons here and elsewhere; and why the Biden administration — which evidently was on notice about this operation for over a week before the first penetration took place — failed to act to prevent it.

One line of inquiry that has received scant attention to date, however, involves a surpassingly important topic: Does the first surveillance balloon’s flight path shed light on the Chinese Communists’ attitude about fighting and winning a nuclear war — and what does America know more generally about its capabilities and intentions in those regards?

Moderator:

- Frank Gaffney, executive chairman of the Center for Security Policy, host of Securing America with Frank Gaffney on Real America’s Voice Network, and vice-chair for the Committee on the Present Danger: China

Panelists:

- Richard Fisher: Senior Fellow for Asia, Institute for Assessment and Strategy; author: China’s Military Modernization: Building for Regional and Global Reach  
Topic: “The Chinese Communist Party’s Nuclear Modernization — Building to a First-strike Capability?”

- Dr. Mark Schneider, PhD: Senior Analyst with the National Institute for Public Policy; former career senior executive and duty expert on nuclear weapons policy and arms control in the Office of the Secretary of Defense; former Foreign Service Officer; and former Professional Staff Member, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
Topic: “The CCP’s Strategic Defenses: Enablers of Nuclear Warfighting?”

- Dr. Phillip Karber, PhD: Marine Corps veteran; longtime public servant in the national security arena; former senior defense industry executive; former professor at Georgetown University, the National War College, and other academic institutions
Topic: “The Nuclear Warfighting with Chinese Characteristics: The CCP’s Doctrine for Fighting and Winning”