United States federal agencies and the Pentagon over the last decade have imposed a matrix of restrictions on purchasing technology from companies owned or influenced by China’s ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), but few of the nation’s 50 states have taken similar precautions.
In fact, many state governments apparently aren’t aware—or haven’t publicly acknowledged—how potentially vulnerable their electronic infrastructure is to CCP cyberattacks, espionage, and data theft.
According to an October 2021 China Tech Threat report, at least 40 states are now using hardware and software programs purchased from CCP-owned tech companies, such as Lenovo and Lexmark.
Georgetown University’s Center for Security & Emerging Technology (CSET) documents that between 2015-21, at least 1,681 state and local governments purchased technology from CCP-owned or controlled companies that federal agencies and the U.S. military are explicitly prohibited from doing business with….