U.S. Probes CCP’s Huawei Over Security Concerns

According to a report on July 21st, the Biden administration was investigating Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s Huawei, a telecom equipment giant, over concerns that its equipment installed on cell towers could capture sensitive information such as military bases and missile silos, and then may transmit this information to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

 “If Chinese companies like Huawei are given unfettered access to our telecommunications infrastructure, they could collect any of your information that traverses their devices or networks,” FBI Director Christopher Wray warned in a speech in 2020, and he added that what make matters worse is that companies like Huawei will have no choice but to hand the information over to the Chinese government if asked.

 One move to counter the threat is a 2019 law and related rules that bar U.S. companies from using federal subsidies to buy Huawei’s telecom equipment. It also tasked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) with compelling U.S. carriers that receive federal subsidies to purge their networks of Huawei equipment, in return for reimbursement. But the so-called complete dismantling and destruction of Huawei equipment will not take effect until mid-2023 at the earliest, with additional opportunities for companies to seek extensions.

 Brendan Carr, one of the five FCC commissioners, said that cellphone towers around Montana’s Malmstrom Air Force Base, which is one of three that oversee missile fields in the United States, also operates on Huawei technology. There is a risk that data from smartphones obtained by Huawei could reveal troop movements near the sites.