It seemed like a great deal when put on paper. For the National Arboretum in Washington, DC, the Chinese government offered to spend $100 million to construct an elaborate Chinese garden in 2017.
The project thrilled local officials, who hoped it would draw thousands of tourists each year. It included temples, pavilions, and a 70-foot white pagoda.
However, when US counterintelligence officials started looking into the specifics, they discovered many warning signs.
According to multiple sources familiar with the incident, the pagoda would have been strategically positioned on one of Washington, DC’s highest points, just two miles from the US Capitol, making it the ideal location for signals intelligence gathering.
The fact that Chinese officials planned to erect the pagoda using supplies brought to the US in diplomatic pouches—materials that US Customs officials are not permitted to inspect—was also concerning, according to the sources.
The FBI and other federal agencies have stepped up their counterintelligence efforts in response to what career US security officials claim have been a dramatic uptick in Chinese espionage on US soil over the past ten years, including the cancellation of the garden.
Federal officials have resisted what they believed to be obvious attempts to place listening devices close to sensitive military and government facilities since at least 2017.
They have also looked into Chinese land purchases near important infrastructure, shut down a prominent regional consulate that the US government believed to be a haven for Chinese spies, and investigated Chinese land purchases near critical infrastructure.
One of the most concerning things the FBI discovered involved Chinese-made Huawei technology installed atop cell towers close to US military bases in the Midwest.
Multiple sources with knowledge of the situation claim that the FBI came to the conclusion that the devices could be used to intercept and degrade communications within the Defense Department that were subject to strict security controls, including those used by the US Strategic Command, which is in charge of the nation’s nuclear arsenal.
The existence of this investigation and its results have never been reported, despite widespread worries about Huawei equipment being close to US military installations.
It has roots that go back at least to the Obama administration. More than a dozen sources, including current and former national security officials, who spoke to CNN about it all requested anonymity because they were not authorized to do so.
It’s unknown if the intelligence community established whether any information was actually intercepted and sent from these towers back to Beijing.
Technically, it’s very challenging to demonstrate that a specific package of data was stolen and sent abroad, according to sources familiar with the situation.
Chinese officials vehemently reject any attempts to snoop on the US. In a statement to CNN, Huawei further denied that its products can use any communications spectrum allotted to the Defense Department.
However, numerous sources with knowledge of the investigation tell CNN that there is no doubt that Huawei equipment can intercept not only commercial cell traffic but also the highly restricted airwaves used by the military, as well as interfere with crucial US Strategic Command communications, potentially providing the Chinese government with access to the United States’ nuclear arsenal.
One former FBI official with knowledge of the investigation said, “This gets into some of the most sensitive things we do.”
It would essentially affect our ability to exercise command and control using the nuclear triad. The “BFD” category applies to that.
This person added, “If that could be interrupted, that would be a very bad day.”
conversion of doves into hawks
The investigation’s conclusions were hailed as a turning point by former officials. According to two sources familiar with the situation, the investigation was conducted in such a way that only a small number of senior policymakers in the White House and other parts of the government were informed of its existence. This was in 2019.
In the fall of that year, the Federal Communications Commission started enforcing a rule that effectively prohibited small telecoms from using Huawei and a few other Chinese-made equipment brands.
One former US official claimed that the investigation’s existence at the highest levels “converted some doves into hawks.”
Wide swaths of rural America will be freed from Chinese-made Huawei and ZTE cellular technology in 2020 thanks to a $1.9 billion budget approved by Congress.
But two years later, none of that machinery has been taken down, and rural telecom providers are still awaiting federal reimbursement funds.
According to a July 15 update from the FCC, it is more than $3 billion short of the money required to reimburse all qualified companies despite receiving requests to remove about 24,000 pieces of communications equipment made in China.
The FCC says it intends to start paying approved companies for about 40% of the costs of taking down Huawei equipment in the absence of additional funding from Congress. The FCC did not provide a timeline for when the funds would be distributed.
According to a former senior US law enforcement official who spoke to CNN, the Justice Department informed the Commerce Department of its national security concerns regarding Huawei equipment in late 2020 and provided information on the locations of the equipment in the US.
According to a former law enforcement official and a current senior US official, the Commerce Department then launched its own investigation into Huawei after the Biden administration took office in 2021 to see if more urgent action was required to remove the Chinese technology provider from US telecom networks.
The current US official said that investigation is still ongoing and has been moving slowly. A concern raised by national security officials was that the Chinese government might take advantage of external communication from Huawei equipment, such as that which happens when software is updated.
US telecom providers may be required to remove Huawei equipment right away or else face fines or other consequences, depending on what the Commerce Department discovers.
The Commerce Department investigation was first made public by Reuters.
“We are devoted to protecting our information and communications technology and services supply chain, but we cannot confirm or deny ongoing investigations.
Our economy and national security depend on safeguarding US citizens’ safety and security from nefarious data collection, a Commerce Department spokesperson said.
Chinese threat communication has recently been a top priority for US counterintelligence officials.
The US National Counterintelligence and Security Center has warned American companies and local and state governments about what it claims are covert Chinese attempts to manipulate them to affect US policy.
For a joint meeting with top British law enforcement officials to discuss the Chinese threats, FBI Director Christopher Wray recently travelled to London.
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Wray revealed in an exclusive interview with CNN that the FBI launches a new counterintelligence investigation into China every 12 hours. Wray estimated that there had been around 2,000 investigations.
“And that’s not even bringing up their cybercrime, where they have a bigger hacking program than that of every other major nation combined, and have stolen more American citizens’ personal and corporate data than any other nation combined,” the author continued.
When asked why Huawei’s technology is still largely in use atop cell towers close to US military bases despite years of national security concerns, Wray responded, “We’re concerned about allowing any company that is beholden to a nation-state that doesn’t adhere to and share our values, giving that company the ability to burrow into our telecommunications infrastructure.”
He mentioned that the DOJ charged Huawei with racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy in 2020.
