(Chris Parker, Headline USA) The Trump administration warned repeatedly that Chinese company Huawei’s telecom equipment could spy on top-secret military information. Former President Trump even declared a state of emergency and imposed sanctions on the tech titan, prompting Huawei to quickly deny the allegations in a press release.
Now, three years later, an FBI investigation has revealed that the equipment’s espionage capabilities can go as far as intercepting US nuclear communications, reported Legal Insurrection.
Many of Huawei’s cell towers are already strategically placed.
“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,” the report noted.
“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.”
Huawei is also the world’s largest manufacturer of smartphones, a feat largely attributed to COVID. With that as a backdrop, authorities believe Huawei’s network might be capable of sending information related to military drills and strategic actions. They may also be able to capture and transmit messages and geolocational data.
The Trump administration was originally criticized for setting sanctions and warnings against the company.
“Cutting the company off from the rest of the world risked a rift in standards that would create unneeded complexity in global deployments and also, runs the argument, disadvantage U.S. players,” Forbes wrote in 2020.
Trump also warned European allies of Huawei’s espionage capabilities.
“[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 in 2019.
Last December, leaked Huawei files released by the Washington Post revealed many of the hidden uses of the Chinese company’s towers. That prompted the Biden administration to also declare Huawei as a national security threat. The leaked files also revealed how deeply involved the company is with the Chinese Communist Party.
“I don’t have a comment on the specifics of this report but President Biden and the administration continue to believe Huawei is a national security threat,” a National Security Council spokesperson told Fox Business.
“That is why it remains on the entity list and why this administration designated it under E.O. 14032 for operating in the defense and related [material] and/or surveillance technology sectors of the PRC economy.”
