It was revealed this week that Chinese hackers breached the U.S. Treasury Department and gained access to an unknown number of employee workstations and unclassified documents.

It is the latest in a series of major hacks of U.S. institutions attributed to China, and now a member of Congress who will soon be a high-level official in the Trump administration is demanding that substantial "costs" be imposed on the communist regime, Fox News reported.

Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL), selected by President-elect Donald Trump to be his national security adviser, also suggested the U.S. needed to go on "offense" instead of just playing "defense" in the cyber realm after several significant alleged Chinese hacks occurred over the past year.

Suspected Chinese hacks of Treasury, other departments

The Associated Press reported that the Treasury Department acknowledged Monday that it had been hacked in a "major cybersecurity incident" by suspected Chinese intelligence operatives via a third-party software service provider on Dec. 8 in a breach that netted the hackers an undetermined level of access to employee workstations and unclassified documents.

"Treasury takes very seriously all threats against our systems, and the data it holds," a spokesperson for the department said in a statement. "Over the last four years, Treasury has significantly bolstered its cyber defense, and we will continue to work with both private and public sector partners to protect our financial system from threat actors."

Of course, the Chinese government vehemently denied any involvement and insisted that it "consistently opposes all forms of hacking, and we are even more opposed to the dissemination of false information against China for political purposes."

Yet, per Fox News, Chinese intelligence-linked hackers are suspected of being involved in several major hacks over the past year that targeted the Commerce Department, Justice Department, State Department, members of Congress, and telecommunications firms, among others, as part of an operation dubbed Salt Typhoon.

Time to "go on the offensive and impose COSTS" on China

During an appearance on Fox News last month, prior to this latest revelation of the Treasury hack, Rep. Waltz addressed the previous "tsunami" of suspected Chinese hacks, as well as from other rival nations like Russia and Iran, throughout 2024, and said, "We have to stop trying to just play better and better defense."

The Republican congressman drew comparisons to the U.S. buildup of offensive capabilities amid the arms race against the Soviets during the Cold War and suggested the same idea needed to be applied to the cyber realm, in that "We need to start going on offense."

"We need to start imposing consequences for those that are stealing our technology, spying on us, and now with a program called Volt Typhoon, is putting cyber time bombs on our critical infrastructure, like our water, our grid, and our ports. Enough is enough," Waltz said.

In an X post that shared a video clip of that interview, the incoming national security adviser wrote, "America can’t afford to just play defense on cyber anymore. We’ve got to go on the offensive and impose COSTS on those who are stealing our technology and attacking our infrastructure."

Trump should "impose escalating costs" to deter China

Rep. Waltz is not alone in wanting to push back against China and impose consequences against the communist regime for its alleged breaches of U.S. cybersecurity, as Fox News reported that Rep. John Moolenaar (R-MI), who chairs the House China Select Committee, said much the same thing.

"The latest intrusion should not come as a surprise. For too long, the CCP has paid no real price for its increasingly aggressive intrusions into our homeland and networks," Moolenaar told the outlet. "It is time for Congress and the incoming Trump administration to impose escalating costs to deter the CCP."

That may be exactly what is about to occur in the coming year, as President-elect Donald Trump has signaled that he may impose tariffs as high as 60% on imported goods from China, and certainly could also hit China with an assortment of other targeted sanctions and financial consequences against the communist regime.