The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has found that equipment from Chinese telecommunications company Huawei is capable of intercepting and transmitting confidential U.S. military data to Beijing, including those related to the country’s nuclear arsenal. Reported by this TV channel CNN.
According to CNN, federal officials have been investigating China’s purchase of land near critical infrastructure since 2017. A prominent regional consulate, which the US government sees as a “home of Chinese spies”, has been shut down and an official thwarted attempts to plant listening devices near key military and government facilities.
Among the most disturbing facts found by the FBI, the channel names the Chinese equipment Huawei installed in cell towers near US military bases in the Midwestern countryside.
“According to many sources familiar with the matter, the FBI has determined that the equipment has the ability to intercept and disrupt extremely limited Department of Defense communications, including those used by the U.S. Strategic Command, which oversees the nation’s nuclear weapons,” CNN reported.
According to him, concerns about Huawei equipment near US military installations were well known, but the existence and results of this investigation were never reported. More than 10 sources, including current and former national security officials, told CNN that the origins of this investigation date back to the administration of the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama.
It is still unknown whether any data from these towers was actually intercepted and sent to Beijing. The TV channel stressed that sources familiar with the problem said it was technically extremely difficult to prove that a particular data packet was stolen and sent abroad.
In turn, the Chinese government denies any attempts to spy on the US, but many sources familiar with the investigation told CNN that there is no doubt that Huawei equipment is capable of intercepting not only commercial cellular traffic, but also the very limited radio waves used. and disrupt critical US Strategic Command communications, giving the Chinese government access to the US nuclear arsenal.
Huawei has been under US sanctions since 2019 due to its national security threat.
Source: Gazeta
