Langevin Statement on Intel Committee Report about China Telecom Companies

Congressman Jim Langevin (D-RI), a member of the House Permanent Select Intelligence Committee and co-founder of the Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus, made the following statement today regarding the release of a Committee report on threats to U.S. security posed by Chinese telecommunications companies, including Huawei and ZTE.

“I want to thank Chairman Rogers and Ranking Member Ruppersberger for their leadership in preparing a report that effectively details the strong national security concerns about the long-term risks posed by U.S. entities doing business with Huawei and ZTE. The Committee gave these companies every opportunity to demonstrate their good intentions. They did not do so, and instead provided incomplete and evasive answers to the Committee's questions. Our telecommunications networks are the backbone of our modern information economy and represent some of our nation’s most critical infrastructure. We cannot afford to give out access to these networks to those we cannot trust, especially at a time when we are seeing constant attempts from inside China to steal intellectual property from our businesses and access our most sensitive government networks.

“I hope everyone will follow the recommendations of this report, but let’s also not forget that this is far from the only threat to businesses’ intellectual property and our critical networks that hold sensitive information and run our most vital infrastructure. We will not be able to appropriately address the efforts by Chinese actors and others who are committing economic espionage or attempting to sabotage our networks unless we pass comprehensive cybersecurity legislation.”