Mattis Should Brief US Congress On Chinese Spy Microchip Fear - Senator

The Department of Defense should brief Congress on reports that China has installed surveillance microchips in hardware now used by the US armed forces and intelligence agencies, Senator Gary Peters wrote in a letter published on Friday.

(UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th October, 2018) The Department of Defense should brief Congress on reports that China has installed surveillance microchips in hardware now used by the US armed forces and intelligence agencies, Senator Gary Peters wrote in a letter published on Friday.

"It is essential that the Department of Defense take action to ensure the security of the microelectronics supply chain for sensitive network infrastructure," Peters wrote in his letter to Secretary of Defense James Mattis.

According to a recent Bloomberg news article, operatives from China's People's Liberation Army inserted the chips during the manufacturing process, affecting major companies from Amazon to Apple, Peters wrote.

"This incident is particularly alarming because it involves the extremely difficult task of manipulating hardware to provide a potential adversary with long-term access to extremely sensitive networks and data belonging to the military and intelligence community," the senator wrote.

In 2017, Peters introduced bipartisan legislation with Senator John Cornyn to increase scrutiny on the transfer of sensitive US technology to foreign countries like China and the bill was signed into law earlier this year, the senator noted in a press release.