US must retaliate China data breach: Rep. King

Earlier this week, American officials said hackers had broken into the computer system of the Office of Personnel Management.
 
Hackers gained access to the data of some 2.7 million current government workers and about 2 million retired workers.
 
US federal officials claimed China was behind the massive hack.
 
When asked whether the United States should counterattack, King told Fox News, “I believe we do.”
 
“There has to be a price to pay for this,” he said on Sunday. “I don’t think we should announce what we’re doing. Nothing should be telegraphed in advance.”
 
“We are talking about nation states here. Whether we are talking about China or not, that’s what we’re probably dealing with here,” the Republican added.
 
During a press conference on Friday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the US will impose economic sanctions on the hackers.
 
“In April, the president, using his executive authority, signed an executive order giving the Treasury Department additional authority to use economic sanctions to punish or hold accountable those who are either responsible for a cyber intrusion or are benefiting from one,” he said.
 
The Chinese Foreign Ministry announced that the accusations against Beijing were irresponsible.
 
“Not to carry out a deep investigation and keep using words such as 'possible' is irresponsible and unscientific,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said.