Federal Communications Commission	"FCC  XX-XXX"


STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER BRENDAN CARR

Re: 	Protecting Against National Security Threats to the Communications Supply Chain Through FCC Programs—Huawei Designation, PS Docket No. 19-351.

When this Commission began the process of securing America’s communications networks against the threats posed by bad actors, we followed the evidence.  And when it comes to Huawei, there is certainly plenty of it.  Starting back in 2012, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence issued a report recommending that companies avoid using Huawei equipment and that government agencies remain vigilant and focused on the threat.  Several National Defense Authorization Acts have continued to sound the alarm, banning federal agencies from using this potentially dangerous equipment.  
The FCC’s review aligns with those recommendations.  Our record shows that Huawei is effectively under the control of the Communist Party of China.  And it has engaged in a wide range of nefarious activities, including working in support of the surveillance and detention of over a million Uighurs in Xinjiang—efforts it undertakes in conjunction with the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau.  Huawei’s entanglement with Communist China’s surveillance state does not end there.  It has close ties to the People’s Liberation Army, and the Ministry of State Security.  In fact, China’s National Intelligence Law even requires them to “cooperate with the State intelligence work,” and it provides them no right to refuse.   It also gives the Chinese government the power to take over a company’s communications equipment.   
The threats posed by the Communist Party’s control over Huawei are not theoretical.  Just last year, a grand jury returned an indictment alleging that Huawei had stolen trade secrets from a U.S. carrier.  Comprehensive studies have also shown security vulnerabilities in Huawei equipment—defects in their software engineering and cybersecurity processes that are so severe even sophisticated technical mitigation techniques would be insufficient to fix them.  The record also shows the Chinese government has been able to influence Huawei’s design and manufacturing processes.
I am grateful for the leadership that Chairman Pai has shown in confronting the threat posed by Huawei.  In collaboration with our State Department partners, Chairman Pai and his team have not only worked to protect America’s networks, they have ensured that our allies abroad do not allow insecure gear to proliferate in their networks.  Today, Australia, the Czech Republic, Japan, Sweden, and the U.K. among others have reached the same conclusions that we have in the U.S.  We should treat Huawei as nothing short of a threat to our collective security.  Because this decision does so, it has my support.
Thank you to the staff of the Wireline Competition Bureau and Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau for their hard work on this important item.



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