Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 8520, the Countering Untrusted Telecommunications Act. Imagine the following: A senior official for a NATO ally of the United States transmits a vital national security matter to his country's embassy here in Washington, but before the call even reaches the embassy, it is intercepted by Chinese spyware, which transmits the call to Beijing. Before our officials even hear the top-secret message, CCP officials have captured and recorded the information. Threats like this are very real and on the rise. Even here in the United States, intelligence and defense officials are concerned that telecommunications equipment made by the company Huawei could capture communications about our nuclear arsenal. Around the world, the problem is worse. Many of our partners and allies have all of their major cell phone networks backed by unsafe equipment giving the PRC and its friends backdoor access to our private communications. Many countries, replete with this unsafe equipment, have mutual defense treaties with the United States. The Countering Untrusted Telecommunications Act would be a crucial tool to address these security issues. First, it would require the State Department to ensure that the Department itself is not relying on unsafe equipment at our embassies around the world.…”