House probes Chinese telecoms

A House Intelligence Committee investigation into the Chinese communications firms Huawei and ZTE is putting the spotlight on a gap in U.S. cybersecurity: the lack of a security standards policy for Chinese telecom equipment.

Committee leaders Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) and Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.) recently intensified their probe after their aides traveled to China to meet with top executives from the firms.

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?We have not yet developed a set of security standards for the acquisition of systems and technologies that underpin our national critical infrastructure and military capabilities,? Frank Cilluffo, director of the Homeland Security Policy Institute at George Washington University, wrote in an email to POLITICO. ?This is important because we are vulnerable to significant exploitation and attack and will remain so until we begin baking security into the design of our architecture.?

Rogers and Ruppersberger are worried that China might be subsidizing the companies in an effort to make them an arm of cyberespionage, or worse, a vehicle for cyberattacks.

?Our goal is not to indict? but rather to ?follow the facts? and ?protect our country and our citizens,? Ruppersberger said.

Committee staffers and experts say Chinese cyberespionage is well documented. They point to a U.S. intelligence report on the subject submitted to Congress last October. Huawei and ZTE say the suspicions about them are unsubstantiated speculation.

But the probe also pushes the administration, in particular, to come up with security standards, according to one tech lobbyist.

?It is putting political pressure on this administration in this space to develop a policy on how to deal with the political and economic threats associated with [telecommunications] equipment from Chinese companies,? the lobbyist said.

Despite lawmakers? concerns, both Huawei and ZTE already sell telecommunications infrastructure equipment to American companies. Huawei employs nearly 1,800 people in 13 U.S. facilities in Georgia, Illinois, California, Texas and other states. ZTE maintains offices in six states, including New Jersey and North Carolina.

But when it comes to China, it?s tough to balance security and economic concerns, said Stewart Baker, a partner at Steptoe & Johnson and a former Homeland Security Department official.

?The administration could be doing more, but they aren?t because they are concerned about what it will do to the trade relationship,? Baker said. ?This is the debate that?s going on inside the administration.?

A White House spokeswoman told POLITICO that the administration has to weigh several factors.

?The complexity of this topic ? and the global commercial market for [telecommunications] equipment and services ? requires careful balancing of equities and a thoughtful response to risk management. There is no simple solution, therefore the U.S. government considers a range of risks and understands that any response cannot be tailored to one company or one country,? the spokeswoman said. ?Across the government, a full range of interested departments and agencies are engaged in efforts to institutionalize understanding of the telecommunications environment to ensure a nuanced response to risk that addresses national security concerns as well as the competitiveness of industry and the U.S. economy.?

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