A number one model of private computer systems that’s bought in Navy Change shops is coming below hearth by a Home panel centered on competitors with China.
In a letter to the Navy Change Service Command launched Thursday, Home China Committee Chairman Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., known as for “rapid motion” to tug Lenovo merchandise from shops. Gallagher pointed to previous regulatory scrutiny of the corporate and argued the computer systems pose a cybersecurity threat as a result of the biggest single shareholder is a Chinese language entity.
“The trade shouldn’t be promoting Lenovo merchandise to U.S. service members, not to mention incentivizing such purchases with tax-free, discounted costs,” Gallagher wrote within the letter to Navy Change Service Command CEO Robert Bianchi.
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“Doing so creates a serious cybersecurity menace and undermines the U.S. Division of Protection’s 2023 Cyber Technique, which commits to ‘foster[ing] a tradition of cybersecurity and cyber consciousness,'” Gallagher added.
An trade spokesperson didn’t instantly reply to Army.com’s request for remark concerning the letter.
The letter is the newest instance of lawmakers expressing concern over Chinese language merchandise in navy exchanges. The Home’s model of this yr’s annual protection coverage invoice features a provision to ban the sale of things manufactured, assembled or imported from China at commissaries or exchanges. An analogous provision was included in final yr’s protection invoice, too, however didn’t turn out to be legislation.
Lenovo is the most well-liked PC model on this planet and the third hottest within the U.S., in keeping with expertise analysis agency Gartner.
The corporate’s largest shareholder is a Chinese language funding agency known as Legend Holdings Corp., which itself is below the umbrella of China’s nationwide Chinese language Academy of Sciences.
U.S. regulators have raised safety issues about Lenovo prior to now.
In 2018, the Federal Commerce Fee settled with Lenovo over allegations that it preloaded software program on some laptops so as to ship adverts to shoppers. The software program “interfered with how a consumer’s browser interacted with web sites and created severe safety vulnerabilities,” the FTC stated on the time.
As a part of the settlement, Lenovo is required to get shoppers’ affirmative consent earlier than pre-installing any related software program and has to implement a complete software program safety program for 20 years that’s topic to third-party audits.
Along with the FTC grievance, Gallagher additionally highlighted a 2018 report from a congressionally chartered panel known as the U.S.-China Financial and Safety Overview Fee that alleged Lenovo “has been linked to Chinese language state-led cyberespionage efforts.” Among the many examples cited within the report was a 2015 determination by the Navy to exchange servers on the Aegis Fight System after Lenovo acquired the server line from IBM.
“PRC espionage campaigns are extremely refined and will definitely goal U.S. service members on their private laptop and IT units,” Gallagher wrote. “We’re involved that these actors may achieve entry to service members’ delicate private info and exploit this entry to compromise U.S. nationwide safety.”
He requested for his committee, which is formally known as the Home Choose Committee on Strategic Competitors between the US and the Chinese language Communist Get together, to be briefed on the Navy Change’s determination to promote Lenovo merchandise by Oct. 20.
— Rebecca Kheel could be reached at rebecca.kheel@navy.com. Observe her on X @reporterkheel.
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