Chinese-Made Huawei Equipment Could Disrupt US Nuclear Arsenal Communications, FBI Determines

There's been "a dramatic escalation of Chinese espionage on US soil over the past decade," sources in the U.S. counterintelligence community have told CNN this weekend.

But some dramatic new examples have been revealed. For example, in 2017 China's government offered to build a $100 million pavilion in Washington D.C. with an ornate 70-foot pagoda. U.S. counterintelligence officials realized its location — two miles from the U.S. Capitol — appeared "strategically placed on one of the highest points in Washington DC...a perfect spot for signals intelligence collection." Also alarming was that Chinese officials wanted to build the pagoda with materials shipped to the US in diplomatic pouches, which US Customs officials are barred from examining, the sources said. Federal officials quietly killed the project before construction was underway... Since at least 2017, federal officials have investigated Chinese land purchases near critical infrastructure, shut down a high-profile regional consulate believed by the US government to be a hotbed of Chinese spies and stonewalled what they saw as clear efforts to plant listening devices near sensitive military and government facilities. Among the most alarming things the FBI uncovered pertains to Chinese-made Huawei equipment atop cell towers near US military bases in the rural Midwest. According to multiple sources familiar with the matter, the FBI determined the equipment was capable of capturing and disrupting highly restricted Defense Department communications, including those used by US Strategic Command, which oversees the country's nuclear weapons.... It's unclear if the intelligence community determined whether any data was actually intercepted and sent back to Beijing from these towers. Sources familiar with the issue say that from a technical standpoint, it's incredibly difficult to prove a given package of data was stolen and sent overseas.

The Chinese government is not interested in espionage. Multiple sources familiar with the investigation tell CNN that the Chinese government has a potential window into America's nuclear arsenal because of the fact that the Chinese equipment has the ability to intercept both commercial and military cell phone traffic. Sources familiar with the matter told CNN that federal investigators began to take notice of the proliferation of equipment from China. In cases that appeared to be unprofitable forHuawei, it was selling cheap equipment to rural providers in cases that were near military assets.