An FBI investigation has found that China-made telecom equipment can intercept U.S. nuclear communications. The cell towers containing equipment by Chinese telecom giant Huawei is capable of intercepting and blocking high-level U.S. military communications, the investigative agency concluded.
“Among the most alarming things the FBI uncovered pertains to Chinese-made Huawei equipment atop cell towers near US military bases in the rural Midwest,” CNN reported Saturday. “According to multiple sources familiar with the matter, the FBI determined the equipment was capable of capturing and disrupting highly restricted Defense Department communications, including those used by US Strategic Command, which oversees the country’s nuclear weapons,” the broadcaster added.
The equipment concealed in strategically-placed cell towers can intercept critical data and relay in to China. “U.S. cell towers fitted with [Huawei] gear could capture sensitive information from military bases and missile silos that the company could then transmit to China,” Reuters reported Thursday.
Huawei, China-based telecom giant, is the world’s biggest smartphone maker. The Chinese technology player, which supplies equipment to mobile networks around the world, has close ties to the China’s Communist regime and the military establishment. Media reports indicate that Huawei is an “effectively state-owned” company. In 2020, the Trump administration concluded that the company controlled by the Chinese military.
The news agency Reuters reported the ongoing FBI probe against Huawei:
The Biden administration is investigating Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei over concerns that U.S. cell towers fitted with its gear could capture sensitive information from military bases and missile silos that the company could then transmit to China, two people familiar with the matter said.Authorities are concerned Huawei could obtain sensitive data on military drills and the readiness status of bases and personnel via the equipment, one of the people said, requesting anonymity because the investigation is confidential and involves national security.The previously unreported probe was opened by the Commerce Department shortly after Joe Biden took office early last year, the sources said, following the implementation of rules to flesh out a May 2019 executive order that gave the agency the investigative authority.The agency subpoenaed Huawei in April 2021 to learn the company’s policy on sharing data with foreign parties that its equipment could capture from cell phones, including messages and geolocational data, according to the 10-page document seen by Reuters.The Commerce Department said it could not “confirm or deny ongoing investigations.” It added that: “protecting U.S. persons’ safety and security against malign information collection is vital to protecting our economy and national security.” (…)Using broad new powers created by the Trump administration, the agency could ban all U.S. transactions with Huawei, demanding U.S. telecoms carriers that still rely on its gear quickly remove it, or face fines or other penalties, a number of lawyers, academics and former officials interviewed by Reuters said.
President Donald Trump was one of the first Western leaders to foresee the security threat posed by Huawei and other Chinese telecom players, which act as the extended arm of Beijing’s military and intelligence-gathering operation. In May 2019, President Trump declared a “national emergency” over the threat posed by these hostile tech giants.
The drastic measure was aimed at protecting “America from foreign adversaries who are actively and increasingly creating and exploiting vulnerabilities in information and communications technology infrastructure and services in the United States,” the Trump White House explained.
The Trump administration also warned the European and Western allies against allowing the Chinese companies from entering their telecom markets, particularly in the rollout of the next generation of 5g mobile network. The presence of China-made equipment in the networks of NATO countries compromised the security cooperation with these allies, the former president believed.
President Trump “instructed me to make clear that any nation who chooses to use an untrustworthy 5G vendor will jeopardize our ability to share intelligence and information at the highest level,” the then-U.S. Ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, cautioned the European allies back in February 2019.
“Trump declares national emergency in campaign to ban Huawei tech” (May 2019)
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