Top Law Enforcement Officials Classify Huawei As Dire National Security Threat, Media Reports Reveal

Media reports from Washington Post, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and many more highlighted Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei’s 13 count federal indictment that charges the company and its Chief Financial Officer with bank and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, and other charges.

Top United States law enforcement officials did not beat around the bush in classifying Huawei as a national security threat. FBI Director Christopher Wray said that Huawei and similar firms, “pose a dual threat to both our economic and national security, and the magnitude of these charges make clear just how seriously the FBI takes this threat.”

The news shines a bright light on the entangled histories of T-Mobile and Sprint and Huawei. Even now, T-Mobile and its parent company, Deutsche Telekom, are immersed in 5G deployments across the world that rely on Huawei equipment.

What’s worse — T-Mobile and Sprint, as well as their parent companies Deutsche Telekom and SoftBank, refuse to commit to eliminating Huawei equipment in their current networks and future 5G deployments, despite needing approval from the US Government to merge.

A (non-exhaustive) roundup of key articles follows:

Fierce Wireless: T-Mobile is at the center of the DOJ’s allegations against Huawei

By Linda Hardesty

January 29, 2019

Washington Post: Justice Dept. charges Huawei with fraud, ratcheting up U.S.-China tensions

By Ellen Nakashima and Devlin Barrett

January 29, 2019

Reuters: U.S. charges China's Huawei with bank fraud, stealing trade secrets

January 28, 2019

Wall Street Journal: U.S. Authorities Unveil Sweeping Set of Charges Against China’s Huawei

By Kate O’Keeffe and Aruna Viswanatha

January 28, 2019