A new amendment to critical national defense legislation would require the Biden administration to investigate how American technologies wound up in a Chinese spy balloon and how to prevent it from happening again.
The amendment would require the federal government to assess how commercial technologies can be used by foreign espionage programs and how to prevent that from happening in the future.
China Used US Tech to Spy on Nuclear Facilities
The Chinese spy balloon first entered the airspace over the continental United States above Mr. Tester’s state of Montana. From there, it proceeded to fly over three sites associated with the United States’ nuclear program: Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, and Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri.Malmstrom contains 150 of the United States’ 400 nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile silos. Offutt is home to U.S. Strategic Command, which oversees the U.S. military’s nuclear arsenal. Whiteman operates the Air Force’s nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bomber.
The revelation that the device relied on U.S.-made technologies to conduct its mission has added to fears that the flow of advanced technologies from the nation to China’s communist regime is continuing largely unabated.
The regime claimed that the balloon was a civilian airship.
“Make no mistake about it, what China did last week was completely unacceptable and a real threat to American sovereignty,” Mr. Tester said at the time. “It deserves a real response from a united America.
Amendment Mandates Investigation, Congressional Report
Mr. Tester’s bipartisan amendment to the NDAA would also mandate that a report be made to Congress about its proposed threat assessment and would direct the Departments of Commerce, State, and the Treasury to use that report when modifying export controls.By doing this, Mr. Tester believes that the administration can better ensure that American-made technology doesn’t make its way into the CCP’s hands.
To that end, on July 12, he also issued an open letter to key members of the Biden administration that demanded that the administration investigate how American-made technologies came to be used in the CCP spy balloon.
“The fact that the Chinese Communist Party was able to use our technology in their spy program is extremely troubling and must be immediately analyzed,” Mr. Tester wrote in the letter, which was addressed to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
“This is a clear demonstration that our current defense and technology export controls may not be adequately preventing or dissuading adversaries from using our own technology against us.”
Mr. Tester is also seeking to increase the defense budget to ensure that the Pentagon can better address emerging threats from the CCP.
With that in mind, he wrote in his letter that the administration owed it to the American people to get answers as to how the whole incident was allowed to occur in the first place, and said that further increasing export controls to prevent the flow of technology to China is necessary.
“Montanans want answers and the assurance this won’t happen again, and this provision is a step in the right direction,” Mr. Tester wrote.
“I expect this Administration, and the individual departments you oversee, to take whatever necessary action is required to bolster our export controls so that this doesn’t happen again.”