{"id":24534,"date":"2020-02-15T17:36:40","date_gmt":"2020-02-15T17:36:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/uncategorized\/2020\/02\/15\/esper-huawei-5g-could-risk-us-information-and-security-ties\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:39:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:39:43","slug":"esper-huawei-5g-could-risk-us-information-and-security-ties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/battlefield-tech\/it-networks-battlefield-tech\/5g-it-networks-battlefield-tech\/2020\/02\/15\/esper-huawei-5g-could-risk-us-information-and-security-ties\/","title":{"rendered":"Esper to allies: Picking Huawei risks intel and security ties with the US"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

MUNICH \u2015 U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Saturday called out China as America\u2019s main adversary and warned allies that letting the Chinese firm Huawei build its next-generation, or 5G, network risks their security cooperation and information sharing arrangements with the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cReliance on Chinese 5G vendors, for example, could render our partners\u2019 critical systems vulnerable to disruption, manipulation and espionage,\u201d Esper said in a speech at the high-level Munich Security Conference<\/a>. \u201cIt could also jeopardize our communication and intelligence sharing capabilities, and by extension, our alliances.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adopting Huawei\u2019s equipment on allies\u2019 5G networks, Esper said, \u201ccould inject serious risk into our defense cooperation.” It was a tough statement partially at odds with other U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who offered assurances last week that U.S.-U.K. intelligence sharing remained strong despite Britain\u2019s decision to include Huawei in some parts of its nascent 5G network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A day earlier, the White House\u2019s point person for international telecommunications policy, Robert Blair, told reporters<\/a>: \u201cThere will be no erosion in our overall intelligence sharing.\u201d But he added that Washington would take a \u201chard look\u201d at the consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the messages were mixed on the response, Esper, Pompeo and U.S. lawmakers of both parties (including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.<\/a>) were unified in their assessment that China will be able to use Huawei\u2019s 5G participation for cyber espionage<\/a> and other subversive aims, which they deemed a fundamental security threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHuawei and other Chinese state-backed tech companies are Trojan horses for Chinese intelligence,\u201d Pompeo said as part of a speech that claimed \u201cthe West is winning\u201d against authoritarian regimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\t