US threatens intelligence blackout over UK Huawei deal
THE US has threatened to withhold intelligence from Britain if it allows Chinese technology giant Huawei to help build its 5G network.
Robert Strayer, the deputy assistant secretary for cyber security at the US State Department, said America would be forced to “reassess” its intelligencesharing relationship with the UK.
He warned that the Chinese state could order Huawei to “undermine network security, skim personal information, distribute cyber attacks and disrupt critical infrastructure”. He said: “What we really have here is a loaded gun, something Western authorities who value human rights should think very carefully about if they want to give that to an authoritarian regime with very different values about the use of data.
“Having potentially compromised equipment and software provided by those vendors in any part of that network is an unacceptable risk.
“If other countries allow untrusted vendors to become the vendors for their 5G networks, we will have to reassess the ability for us to share information and be interconnected with them.”
The Daily Telegraph revealed last week that Theresa May had given the green light to allowing Huawei to build “non-core” parts of Britain’s 5G network.
The National Security Council, which is chaired by the Prime Minister,
‘We will have to reassess the ability for us to share information and be interconnected with them’
pushed ahead with the plans despite objections from five Cabinet ministers.
The US has barred Huawei from operating in federal networks. Mr Strayer said: “It’s the US position that putting Huawei or other untrustworthy vendors in any part of the 5G telecommunications network is a risk.
“It’s not just about the sharing of intelligence. It’s about all the services we are providing across the Atlantic today that could be disrupted, not just the disruption, also the insertion of vulnerabilities and use of cyber-espionage.”
Sir Mark Sedwill, the Cabinet Secretary, has ordered an official inquiry into the leak of details of the National Security Council’s decision.
However, Tory MP Jacob Rees-mogg insisted that the leak was “trivial” compared with the national security debate surrounding Huawei. “The whole story here is not about a leak,” he said. “It is about whether or not we are getting into bed with the Chinese company Huawei against the advice of the US and Australia who have decided not to.
“This is a fundamental issue of national security. Whether someone mentioned it in passing and leaked it is trivial by comparison.”
He said that Cabinet ministers should not be expected to hand in their phones and added: “In this country, we have a principle that you are innocent until proved guilty. Making widespread investigations without evidence on specific figures seems wrong.”