![]() ![]() ![]() Pentagon officials continued buying equipment from the two Chinese firms until Congress banned such purchases in 2018, according to the IG.Įrnst also made public her Aug. The dangerous equipment was bought under the Pentagon’s Commercial off-the-Shelf (COTS) program that was launched during the Clinton administration in the wake of the end of the Cold War.Įrnst pointed to a 2016 report by the DOD Joint Chiefs of Staff Intelligence Directorate that warned “these computers and hand-held devices could introduce compromised hardware into the DOD supply chain, posing a cyber-espionage risk to classified and unclassified DOD networks.”Įrnst also noted a July 26, 2019, DOD Inspector General (IG) report that said “adversaries could exploit known cyber-security vulnerabilities that exist in COTS items purchased by the DOD.” “The Pentagon needs to pull the plug on these products because using computers that are vulnerable to cyberattacks just does not compute,” Ernst said.Įrnst is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s subcommittee on emerging threats and capabilities. “That’s why I’m urging the Pentagon to pull the plug on these purchases, so we’re not only saving hard-earned tax dollars but standing up to cyberattacks from China, and other bad actors,” Ernst said. “Spending millions of taxpayer money on computers, printers, and other tech equipment with known cybersecurity risks just doesn’t make sense and threatens to undermine our national security,” Ernst said in a statement announcing the latest Squeal recognition. Joni Ernst.įor that reason, the Iowa Republican-who is a retired Army National Guard lieutenant colonel-gave the Pentagon her latest, little-coveted “Squeal Award” for worst government waste.Įrnst explains her award-which stands for “Stop Questionable, Unnecessary and Excessive Allowances for Legislators”-as one that “recognizes a Washington expense, program, or concept that has proven to be wasteful and must be cut.” Department of Defense (DOD) officials bought $30 million worth of computers and related equipment from Chinese companies last year, despite repeated warnings that doing so risked creating cybersecurity weaknesses in the U.S. ![]()
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