Letter to the Hon. Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Hon. Gina Raimondo, Secretary of Commerce - Garbarino & Katko Sound Alarm Against "The Next Huawei"

Letter

Dear Secretary Mayorkas and Secretary Raimondo,

As you are aware, the security of our nation's information and communications technology (ICT)
supply chain is critical to nearly every aspect of our lives. Over the past several years, we have
seen an alarming increase in threats to our ICT supply chain from the Chinese Communist Party
(CCP). They have been engaged in a multi-decade effort to lie, cheat, and steal their way to global
dominance, in part by compromising our ICT backbone. While we were pleased to see some of
the early comments from the Biden administration, our committee remains concerned about how
your respective departments plan to address new and emerging Chinese companies seeking to fill
the Huawei void. We simply cannot allow more nefarious Chinese ICT products to enter U.S.
markets.

Specifically, we are alarmed at the rise of Chinese technology company Xiaomi, which has
recently launched several new high-end smartphones aiming to fill the consumer-facing void left
by Huawei. We share grave concerns that Xiaomi poses a significant threat to the privacy of any
of its users through its lineup of smartphones, laptops, smart watches, and other consumer-facing
products. In many ways, data has become the modern-day currency of homeland security and we
must take threats to the data integrity of the free world seriously.

Our committee is concerned that the federal government currently lacks the ability to quickly
comprehend and address security concerns from Chinese companies that are seeking to proliferate
throughout the global economy. As we wrote to National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in
February, "It is imperative that we prevent an authoritarian, communist regime that is actively
engaged in genocide and does not share America's interests from infiltrating and exploiting our
nation's communications and technology backbone. These connected systems, to include 5G
networks, will increasingly underpin our way of life for the coming decades and must remain
secure. This should not be a controversial proposition."

Please provide our committee with an update on the steps your respective departments are taking
to ensure the security of the nation's ICT supply chain, and what authorities and levers you plan
to exercise in response to the threat of emergent market players like Xiaomi.

Relatedly, please provide any relevant information, including plans for exclusionary actions
related to Xiaomi and its subsidiaries by May 14, 2021.

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