National Security

U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) reintroduced his legislation to ban all federal employees from using TikTok on government devices. Despite reports that TikTok is a unique threat to data security, the Biden administration shelved plans by the Trump administration to force a sale of TikTok’s American operations. Text of the legislation, cosponsored by Senators Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), can be found here.

U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent letters to President Joe Biden and Senator Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, calling for Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to testify at a full Senate hearing, to be scheduled as soon as possible on the growing crisis at the southern border. Senator Hawley called on Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to explain the Biden administration’s continued public denials of the crisis and to clarify the details of their planned response.

U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) joined his colleagues in urging the Kansas City Aviation Department to reject any proposed sale of passenger boarding bridges to Kansas City International Airport (KCI) by CIMC-Tianda, a Chinese state-backed company. The lawmakers warn that CIMC-Tianda’s passenger bridges may allow the Chinese government to access the personal data of airport employees or to disrupt communications between ground control and aircraft.

Senator Hawley spoke out this morning against tech insiders’ attempts to gut provisions in the FY 2021 NDAA that would end the Department of Defense’s (DoD) dangerous overreliance on Chinese printed circuit boards (PCBs). “Tech insiders are trying to gut provisions of the defense funding bill that would restrict use of Chinese tech products. Senate negotiators, don’t give in! This is not the time to go soft on #China”

U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) joined Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in introducing the Countering Chinese Attempts at Snooping Act (CCAS) to prohibit U.S. federal employees from conducting official business on platforms run by Tencent, Huawei, ZTE, and other companies the State Department determines cooperate with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In light of the United Nations’ (UN) recent consideration of a partnership with Tencent, the CCAS Act also ensures U.S. taxpayer dollars are not used to fund UN contracts with any such companies.

“TikTok is owned by a Chinese company that includes Chinese Communist Party members on its board, and it is required by law to share user data with Beijing. The company even admitted it collects user data while their app is running in the background – including the messages people send, pictures they share, their keystrokes and location data, you name it. As many of our federal agencies have already recognized, TikTok is a major security risk to the United States, and it has no place on government devices.”

U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and a bipartisan group of Senators have sent a letter to Members of the House of Commons expressing significant concerns with the United Kingdom’s decision to allow Huawei Technologies to take part in its 5G network infrastructure. The letter highlights Huawei’s close relationship with the Chinese Communist Party’s intelligence-gathering authorities and steps the United States has taken to ban Huawei from its own network infrastructure. “Given the significant security, privacy, and economic threats posed by Huawei, we strongly urge the United Kingdom to revisit its recent decision, take steps to mitigate the risks of Huawei, and work in close partnership with the U.S. on such efforts going forward,” the Senators wrote.

In today’s “Dangerous Partners: Big Tech & Beijing” hearing, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Chairman of the Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism, announced he would introduce legislation to ban all federal employees from the use of TikTok on government devices. Senator Hawley said, “TikTok is owned by a Chinese company that includes Chinese Communist Party members in leadership, and it is requires by Chinese law to share user data with Beijing. TikTok has admitted that it has sent user data to China. To put it bluntly, this is a major security risk for the American people. . . This legislation is a necessary step to protect the security of the United States and the data security of every American.”

U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) will hold a hearing next Wednesday as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Crime and Terrorism Subcommittee, titled “Dangerous Partners: Big Tech & Beijing.” Members of law enforcement have agreed to testify, but TikTok and Apple have once again declined Senator Hawley’s invitation – just as they did in November. “This is a troubling pattern of secrecy from Apple and TikTok,” said Senator Hawley. “Doing business with Beijing poses great security risks, especially when it comes to Americans’ personal data. If these companies have nothing to hide, they need to quit stalling and testify before Congress.”

Hawley: “Pleased Mizzou is shutting down the #China Communist Party funded “Confucius Institute.” As the State Department warned Mizzou in July 2019, and as I have repeatedly stated, this program presented security risks for students & university as a whole”