White House review ‘found no evidence’ of Huawei spying for China

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
A review commissioned by the government of the United States has reportedly found no evidence that Chinese telecommunications hardware manufacturer Huawei Technologies spied for the Chinese government. The 18-month-long review, which was ordered directly by the White House, examined the question of security vulnerabilities posed by telecommunications hardware suppliers, which could theoretically harm US service providers and pose a danger to US national security. The report, which was allegedly aided by several US intelligence agencies and other federal government departments, was based on detailed interviews with nearly 1,000 telecommunications equipment consumers across the United States. It was concluded at the start of 2012, but remains largely classified. However, Reuters news agency cites “two people familiar with the probe”, who claim that the probe contains “no clear evidence” that Huawei spied for the government of China. At the same time, however, the probe concluded that Huawei telecommunications hardware contains numerous structural vulnerabilities which could help hackers exploit telecommunications networks supported by the Chinese company. According to one source quoted by Reuters, the White House report found that the telecommunications hardware sold by Huawei was “riddled with holes”. Founded in 1987 to import Western office telephone systems to China, Huawei has become one of the country’s leading exporters of all kinds of communications hardware equipment, ranging from routers to cell towers and undersea cables. But Huawei’s export growth has been hampered in recent years by widely circulated suspicions that the company maintains close ties to the Chinese military and intelligence establishments. In 2011, the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence issued a report claiming that Huawei relied on a series of formal and informal contacts with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army and China’s Ministry of State Security, which oversee and administer China’s military and civilian intelligence apparatus. A Huawei spokesman told Reuters that the company was “not surprised” that the White House study had found no evidence of direct complicity in espionage. The news agency also contacted a spokesperson of the US National Security Council, but she declined to comment.