Based on what I have seen, this laptop threat is not a conventional hack or even a backdoor.

What they developed was a re-packaged directional EMP pulse weapon. The Chinese military have demonstrated their handheld directional EMP rifles. Their ostensible purpose is to shoot down drones, and they are field ready.

A laptop which looks perfectly normal could have been mpdified with something like a snapdragon processor on a separate battery, and the repackaged EMP weapon could resemble to an X-Ray very similar to a laptop.

Anyone who has this information and DOESN'T share it with allies is a criminal IMHO. Or did Congress declare War on Russia while we were watching Celebrity Danceoff 16?