peacetime and are organized into specialized units during wartime to support network defense operations.
General Ju Qiansheng has served as SSF commander since 2021. He previously served as commander of the NSD. Lt. Gen. Shang Hong recently served as commander of the SSD, until leaving that position sometime in 2023, but a replacement has not been identified. The leader of the NSD is unknown.
Network Systems Department. The SSF NSD, also referred to as the CSF, is responsible for information warfare with a mission set that includes cyberspace warfare, technical reconnaissance, EW, and psychological warfare. By placing the SSF NSD missions under the same organizational umbrella, the PRC seeks to remedy the operational coordination challenges that hindered information sharing under the PLA’s pre-reform organizational structure. The incorporation of cyberspace and EW elements under one organization was a crucial step towards realizing the operational concept of integrated network and electronic warfare that the PLA has envisioned since the early 2000s. The NSD operates five theater–aligned technical reconnaissance bases, a number of signals intelligence bureaus, and several research institutes. The NSD provides intelligence support to the theater commands by leveraging a diverse suite of ground-based technical collection assets to provide a common operating picture to geographically dispersed operational units.
The SSF and the “Three Warfares” Concept: The SSF NSD, or CSF, performs missions and tasks associated with the PLA’s concept of “Three Warfares,” which comprises psychological warfare, public opinion warfare, and legal warfare. This department is the only publicly known organization in the PLA that performs psychological warfare operations. See 2022 CMPR “Special Topic: PRC Views of Information and Information Dominance” for more on PLA views on information warfare, including psychological warfare.
SSF SPACE SYSTEMS DEPARTMENT
The SSD, sometimes referred to as the ASF, is responsible for nearly all PLA space operations, including space launch and support; space surveillance; space information support; space telemetry, tracking, and control; and space warfare. The PRC seeks to enhance the PLA’s command and control C2 for joint operations and establish a real-time surveillance, reconnaissance, and warning system, and it is increasing the number and capabilities of its space systems, including communications and intelligence satellites, as well as the BeiDou navigation satellite system.
The SSD operates at least eight bases, including those whose core missions are the launch, tracking, R&D, and operation of the satellites vital to the PRC’s overhead C4ISR architecture. The SSD operates tracking, telemetry, and command (TT&C) stations in multiple locations worldwide to guide space missions around the Earth as well as in cislunar and deep space. The SSD also operates Yuanwang space support ships that track satellite and ICBM launches.
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OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China
