Ride the Lightning

Chinese Technology: A Danger Throughout the Pentagon?

August 26, 2019

The Washington Post (sub.req.) reported on August 22 that Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) and other lawmakers are sounding an alarm about commercial products, such as cameras, printers and laptops, from China being purchased by the Pentagon.

The distress about Chinese-built technology in the Defense Department and elsewhere in government has primarily focused on Chinese components of major software and hardware systems that access sensitive information and could be a conduit for Beijing to spy on U.S. government secrets.

But there's also a major hacking danger posed by cheaper stand-alone items, such as Lexmark printers, Lenovo laptops and GoPro cameras, that the military is routinely buying with the equivalent of office expense accounts and little or no oversight, Gallagher warned.

For example, Army and Air force officials used the equivalent of government credit cards to buy more than 8,000 Lexmark printers during the 2018 fiscal year, despite the fact the company has "connections to Chinese military, nuclear, and cyberespionage programs," according to a recent watchdog report Gallagher cited.

The Air Force also purchased 1,378 Lenovo products last year, despite a 2016 warning in a report from the Joint Chiefs of Staff Intelligence Directorate that "Lenovo computers and handheld devices could introduce compromised hardware into the DoD supply chain, posing a cyberespionage risk to classified and unclassified DoD networks." The Army and Air Force also bought 117 GoPro action cameras despite vulnerabilities that could give a hacker access to the user's credentials and to live video streams, the report states.

Gallagher called that report "a flashing red warning sign that even in the most sensitive parts of our government we aren't taking cybersecurity as seriously as we should."

Lexmark and Lenovo are Chinese companies, and GoPro cameras are produced primarily in China. Chinese-built back doors in those products could give Beijing access to Pentagon communications, surveillance footage and reams of other sensitive data, Gallagher warned.

Gallagher's warnings come as U.S. officials are in the midst of a global pushback on Chinese tech companies, especially the telecom company Huawei, which is poised to play a dominant role in building next-generation 5G networks that will carry far more data than existing networks and create greater risk if they're compromised by hackers.

Gallagher's co-leading the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, a group of a dozen lawmakers and current and former government officials, which is tasked with charting a course for the future of U.S. cybersecurity policy. The commission is based on a similar Eisenhower-era group that examined how best to counter the Soviet Union.

To combat Chinese tech dominance, the United States should consider surging federal support for research and development efforts to make U.S. and other Western tech companies more globally competitive, he said. The country should also increase efforts to convince allies to shut out Chinese firms from 5G and other sensitive areas, he said.

Is it going well so far? No. Gallagher and others are having trouble getting their message out – or getting people to listen.

Sharon D. Nelson, Esq., President, Sensei Enterprises, Inc.
3975 University Drive, Suite 225|Fairfax, VA 22030
Email: Phone: 703-359-0700
Digital Forensics/Cybersecurity/Information Technology
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