Drawing on the recent publication of a letter from Rep. John Katko (R-N.Y.), ranking member on the House Homeland Security Committee, and Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.) to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Axios China reporter Bethany Allen- Ebrahimian published a piece about states continuing to purchase risky Chinese technology. The letter explains that they lawmakers want to ensure that technology and telecommunications equipment used by government agencies is secure.
Citing China Tech Threat’s report on states purchasing good from Lenovo and Lexmark, Allen- Ebrahimian notes that “State-level procurement of tech represents an area of vulnerability.” Additionally, she quotes CTT founder Roslyn Layton who stated that “If you are a state chief information officer, there is no place to go in the federal government to really understand the threats you face and what you should do to ensure security. At the federal level we could definitely do more to help empower the many state actors. ”