Investigations carried out by the FBI have revealed that Huawei equipment installed atop cell towers in the Midwest rural areas of America can record and disrupt crucial defence communications of key military bases located in the region, according to a CNN report.
“According to multiple sources familiar with the matter, the FBI determined the equipment was capable of capturing and disrupting highly restricted Defence Department communications, including those used by US Strategic Command, which oversees the country's nuclear weapons,” according to the CNN report.
This has given rise to serious concern among US security officials as not enough is being done to remove the potential threat.
Of particular concern to FBI investigators was that Huawei was routinely selling cheap equipment to rural providers in cases that appeared to be unprofitable for Huawei — but which placed its equipment near military assets.
The Chinese government and Huawei strongly deny any efforts to spy on the US and the company claims its equipment cannot tune into the defence frequency.
But multiple sources familiar with the investigation told CNN that Huawei equipment definitely has the ability to intercept not only commercial cell traffic but also the highly restricted airwaves used by the military and disrupt critical US Strategic Command communications, giving the Chinese government a potential window into America's nuclear arsenal.
In 2020, Congress approved $1.9 billion to remove Chinese-made Huawei and ZTE cellular technology across wide stretches in the rural areas of America.
However, even two years later, none of that equipment has been removed as rural telecom companies are still waiting for the federal funds to go for alternative equipment.
Among the concerns that national security officials pointed out was that external communication from the Huawei equipment that occurs when software is updated, for example, could be exploited by the Chinese government.
Depending on what the Commerce Department finds, US telecom carriers could be forced to quickly remove Huawei equipment or face fines or other penalties.
Reuters first reported the existence of the Commerce Department probe.
US counterintelligence officials have recently red-flagged threats from China. This month, the US National Counterintelligence and Security Center issued a warning to American businesses and local and state governments about “disguised” efforts by China to manipulate them to influence US policy.
FBI Director Christopher Wray recently visited London for a joint meeting with top British law enforcement officials to discuss the Chinese threats.
In an exclusive interview with CNN, Wray said, “the FBI opens a new China counterintelligence investigation every 12 hours. That's probably about 2,000 or so investigations."
