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Adolf Peter Sgambelluri is a retired U.S. Marine, former Guam police chief and president of the Guam chapter of the National Association for Uniformed Services.

Recently, a report from a Virginia-based cybersecurity firm, Mandiant, accused a secret Chinese military unit in Shanghai of years of cyberattacks against more than 140 U.S. companies.

Further, the report concluded from Mandiant the breaches can be linked to the People's Liberation Army's Unit 61398. The accusations and supporting evidence increased pressure on the United States to take more action against the Chinese for what experts say has been years of systematic espionage.

In its report, Mandiant said it traced the hacking back to a neighborhood in the outskirts of Shanghai that includes a white 12-story office building run by Unit 61398. Mandiant said there are only two viable conclusions about the involvement of the Chinese military in the cyberattacks: Either Unit 61398 is responsible for the persistent attacks, or they are being done by a secret organization of Chinese speakers with direct access to the Shanghai telecommunications infrastructure who are engaged in a multi-year espionage campaign being run right outside the military unit's gates.

"In a state that rigorously monitors Internet use, it is highly unlikely that the Chinese government is unaware of an attack group that operates from the Pudong New Area of Shanghai," the report stated.

The report estimated further the only way the group could function is with the "full knowledge and co-operation of the Beijing government."

The unit "has systematically stolen hundreds of terabytes of data from at least 141 organizations," Mandiant reported. A terabyte is 1,000 gigabytes.

To coincide with the Chinese state visit to meet with President Barack Obama, the White House announced a broad effort to fight the growing theft of American trade secrets following fresh evidence linking cyberstealing to China's military.

The White House has been taking a serious look at responding to China. And this will be the year the administration will put more pressure on, even while realizing it will be hard for the Chinese to change.

Obama signed an executive order recently aimed at helping protect the computer networks of American industries from cyberattacks. It called for the development of voluntary standards to protect the computer systems that run critical sectors of the economy such as the banking, power and transportation industries. The president further directed U.S. defense and intelligence agencies to share classified threat data with those companies.

The plan includes a new diplomatic push to discourage intellectual property theft abroad along with better coordination at home to help U.S. companies protect themselves.

The administration says indications are economic espionage is increasing -- not only through electronic intrusion over the Internet but also through the recruitment of former employees of U.S. companies with knowledge of inside trade information.

"Trade secret theft threatens American businesses, undermines national security and places the security of the U.S. economy in jeopardy," said a report from the White House. "These acts also diminish U.S. export prospects around the globe and put American jobs at risk."

Obama also prodded Congress during his State of the Union address to go further.

"Now, Congress must act as well by passing legislation to give our government a greater capacity to secure our networks and deter attacks," Obama said.

The president said America's enemies are "seeking the ability to sabotage our power grid, our financial institutions and our air traffic control systems. We cannot look back years from now and wonder why we did nothing in the face of real threats to our security and our economy."

The new report was short on specific consequences for trade secret theft, with no new fines or other trade actions announced. It included several actions:

• Applying diplomatic pressure by senior officials to foreign leaders to discourage theft.

• Promoting best practices to help industries protect against theft.

• Enhancing U.S. law enforcement operations to increase investigations and prosecutions.

• Reviewing U.S. laws to determine if they need to be strengthened to protect against theft.

• Beginning a public awareness campaign.

James Lewis, a cybersecurity expert at the Washington, D.C., Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said that in the past year, the White House has been taking a serious look at responding to China.

In denying involvement in the cyberattacks tracked by Mandiant, China's Foreign Ministry said China too has been a victim of hacking, some of it traced to the U.S. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei cited a report by an agency under the Ministry of Information Technology and Industry that, in 2012 alone, foreign hackers used viruses and other malicious software to seize control of 1,400 computers in China and 38,000 websites.