America’s Spies Considering What Happens if Huawei Wins the 5G Race
There was a really interesting story published Monday morning in Politico about the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment of Huawei, the Chinese telecom giant it largely sees as a security threat because of its ties to the Chinese military. They spent the weekend gaming out what it would look like if Huawei indeed emerges over its competitors as the dominant force in 5G technology – basically, the computer infrastructure that will underpin the economy for the foreseeable future.
It’s an interesting thought experiment! It’s a complicated issue, made more complex by the fact that President Trump …
… has politicized the living heck out of the Huawei issue by essentially making it a chit in trade talks with the Chinese government. Not good!
The president’s Commerce Department blacklisted Huawei a few months ago on national security grounds because of fears the company will use “back doors” in its tech to facilitate espionage. What’s more:
“Trump has also signed an executive order that would block Huawei from selling equipment in the U.S. and Congress passed a law last year that would ban procurement of Huawei products by federal agencies.”
And yet:
“One person involved in last week’s exercise said it’s clear the meeting was focused on the long term and not meant to offer an immediate policy solution in the context of Trump’s trade fight.
“‘The timeline of this is not consistent with the way the president looks at the world,’ the person said.”
Today, Commerce announced a 90-day reprieve on its Huawei ban, so the many rural telecom companies in the States that rely on Huawei equipment will have more time to decouple. The New York Times reports that the administration is keeping up an appearance of pressure by adding nearly 50 Huawei affiliates to that blacklist.
But if the intelligence community in lockstep thinks company is a national security threat, why is the president bartering over it at all?
Eh. He probably knows what he’s doing.
