The Hill quotes Atlantic Council Chairman Jon M. Huntsman, Jr. on the Justice Department’s criminal indictment of five Chinese People’s Liberation Army members:
Deterring hackers and keeping national security secrets uncompromised and metadata safe depends on our Department of Justice doing more than symbolic criminal indictments that possess little chance of going to trial. Traditional criminal law enforcement seems obsolete for cyber attacks with a customary international component. Illustrative is the Justice Department’s criminal indictment last year against five Chinese People’s Liberation Army members for hacking into the accounts of major United States corporations. Former U.S. Ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman, Jr. downplayed the indictments as little more than “symbolism.” China will never extradite the accused, and constitutional due process forbids criminal trials in absentia.