A group of eight U.S. senators published a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Director of National Intelligence General James Clapper to raise their concern Huawei Technologies as a potential supplier to Sprint Nextel. Specifically, the senators claim that Huawei maintains close ties with China’s military and poses a national security risk to the United States. The senators also cite Huawei’s sales activity in Iran, intellectual property concerns, and financial support from the Chinese government.
The senators request a range of information from the Obama administration, including whether the U.S. Treasury Department has negotiated any possible arrangements by which Huawei could invest in or acquire control over a supplier involved with sensitive U.S. government projects? Whether the intelligence community has any cybersecurity concerns regarding Huawei? Whether Sprint-Nextel has any contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense or the intelligence community? Whether U.S.-based employees of Huawei have been granted security clearance for access to classified information?
The letter was signed by Senators Kyl, Bond, Shelby, Inhofe, Bunning, Sessions, Burr and Collins.
For its part, Huawei circulated a letter to the media in which it states that it is an employee-owned private company with no ownership stake by the Chinese government or the military. Huawei further asserts that it has a good intellectual property record and that it abides by the law in all of the territories in which it operates.
