East Michigan News

This week, the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI), House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security Chairman Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), and Representative Keith Self (R-TX) sent a letter to major tech companies Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon. The letter seeks information about their involvement with subsea cable systems potentially linked to entities from China or Russia.

The inquiry follows reports suggesting that entities associated with the People's Republic of China might be maintaining U.S. Department of Defense digital infrastructure through Microsoft. The Federal Communications Commission has also announced plans to vote on prohibiting PRC-manufactured technology in subsea cables ending in the United States.

In their letter, lawmakers request detailed information from each company regarding their subsea cable operations since 2018. This includes construction, repair, or maintenance services and any security measures taken during these processes. Companies are asked to submit this information by August 4, 2025, and provide a briefing by August 8, 2025.

The letter emphasizes the strategic importance of submarine telecommunications cables for global data transmission and national security. It states: "Resting on the ocean floor, submarine telecommunications cables...form one of the most strategically significant...components of the world’s digital infrastructure."

The committee members express concern over potential adversarial activities targeting these infrastructures: "A growing body of evidence points to a coordinated pattern...linked to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Russian Federation targeting subsea infrastructure..."

They conclude by stressing congressional oversight's role in preventing foreign access from becoming a means for espionage or disruption: "Congressional oversight of these matters is essential..."