Long before TikTok histrionics took root, you might recall that numerous members of Congress spent numerous years freaking about another Chinese company: Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei.
The argument, made without much in the way of public evidence, was that Huawei was systematically using its network gear to spy on Americans at a massive scale. Congress then proposed a solution: it would require that U.S. telecom operators (large and small) rip out all Huawei equipment from their networks at great expense, then replace it with usually more expensive alternatives.
So in early 2020 Congress passed the Secure And Trusted Communications Act effectively banning Huawei from U.S. telecom networks. Congress doled out $1.9 billion to rip out and replace Huawei gear, but it’s estimated to cost around $5 billion to actually complete the effort. But instead of finishing the job, Congress fell asleep, resulting in huge costs for telecom providers (especially small ones).
Last week, the House announced it was finally prepared to vote on funding the $3 billion difference so that a job government started back in 2020 actually gets finished:
“The 1,800-page text was released late Saturday and includes other provisions aimed at China, including requiring a report on Chinese efforts to evade U.S. national security regulations and an intelligence assessment of the current status of China’s biotechnology capabilities.”
If Congress can’t fund the difference, it will mostly fall on the backs of smaller providers in connectivity-challenged rural areas, which risk curtailing coverage to parts of rural America we profess to care so much about. FCC officials have also indicated it could also harm the availability of reliable 911 services.
What nudged Congress out of its apathy? I’d wager it has something to do with the recent news that Chinese hackers infiltrated eight different unnamed U.S. ISPs. That massive attack was so significant ISPs say they still haven’t managed to root the invaders out of their networks yet (there is no evidence I’ve seen that Huawei gear played any specific role). A great job all around.
There’s a chasm between all the sound and fury aimed at shoring up U.S. privacy and security (see: our obsession with TikTok) and actual, coherent action. Congressfolk have been whining about Huawei’s purported security risks for the better part of fifteen years, and we still haven’t actually taken action to fix the problem. Too much time fighting over whether candy marketing is too sexy, I’d wager.
