Justitsminister William Barr 

Justitsminister William Barr skal lede en ny komite som skal granske telekomsektoren i forhold til sikkerhed og nationale interesser. Komiteen skal samarbejde med det føderale teletilsyn som sidste år afviste en ansøgning fra China Mobile.

Justitsminister William Barr skal lede en ny komite som skal granske telekomsektoren i forhold til sikkerhed og nationale interesser.

Barr er usædvanlig godt skikket for opgaven siden han nu er justitsminister for anden gang og har arbejdet i telekomsektoren.

Komiteen blev oprettet gennem en såkaldt executiv-order af Trump 4. april.

Den vil være specielt optaget af indflydelsen fra udenlandske selskaber.

The committee was established by President Donald Trump through an executive order on April 4. Its main purpose is to review licensing applications and licenses from companies under foreign-based companies to determine national security and law enforcement risks.

Komiteen vil stå i kontakt med det føderale tilsyn for kommunikationssektoren: Federal Communications Commission (FCC). I samråd kan de afvise nye ansøgninger eller kræve modificering af eksisterende.

Baggrunden er, at med 5G vil hele samfundet være koblet op på og mod nettet. Den som har adgang til nettet vil kunne tappe information, styre information og tage kontrol.

Komiteen formaliserer arbejdet som en ad hoc-komite, Team Telecom, har gjort til nu. Den består af Barr, forsvarsminister Mark Esper og fungerende chef for Homeland Security, Chad Wolf og nogle andre myndigheder.

“In the digital age, our telecommunications networks are more important than ever, and not just to the economy,” Barr said in a statement. “This is a national security and public safety issue. That’s why the federal government must be vigilant and ensure that a foreign adversary cannot undermine the networks our country depends on.”

FCC afslog i fjor ansøgningen fra China Mobile om at måtte etablere sig i USA. China Mobile er et datterselskab af China Mobile Limited, et af verden største mobilselskaber, som kontrolleres af den kinesiske stat.

The establishment of the committee comes in the wake of the FCC’s denial of China Mobile’s application to provide telecommunication services in the United States. China Mobile USA, a Delaware corporation, is a subsidiary of the state-owned China Mobile Limited, one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world, and is ultimately controlled by the Chinese regime, the FCC said (pdf).

The company filed an application in 2011 to provide international telecommunication services. After a review, the FCC determined that granting China Mobile’s application would cause the United States to be “vulnerable to exploitation, influence, and control” by the Chinese Communist Party, Pai said at the time.

China Mobile ville fungere som en trojansk hest indenfor USA’s digitale infrastruktur. USA er for alvor blevet opmærksom på truslen gennem Huawei. Huawei har allerede gennemtrængt andre landes markeder så dybt at myndighederne er bange for at sige fra, da det udløser Beijings vrede.

USA er det eneste land, som er mægtigt nok til at turde udfordre Kina.

Ajit Pai er leder af FCC. Han siger:

“[T]here is a significant risk that the Chinese government would use China Mobile to conduct activities that would seriously jeopardize the national security, law enforcement, and economic interests of the United States,” Pai said. “If this application were granted, the Chinese government could use China Mobile to exploit our telephone network to increase intelligence collection against U.S. government agencies and other sensitive targets that depend on this network.

Huawei sørger for at ansætte nationale telekomledere fra de lande, de opererer i. Derved skabes nogle bindinger, som forpligter nationale eliter til at samarbejde med kineserne.

Justitsminister Barr er ikke bange for at sige fra:

“The Chinese are using every lever of power to expand their 5G market share around the globe,” Barr said in February.

AG Barr to Chair Committee on Reviewing Foreign Involvement in US Telecom Network