House Republicans are demanding answers from Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in a new letter after reports raised the alarm of Chinese-made ship-to-shore cranes in operation at a large majority of U.S. ports.
These cranes pose a "trojan horse" threat and could be allowing the Chinese Communist Party to know what is coming and going from American ports — such as military equipment — and even allow such ports to be shut down without a single shot being fired, a reality that "increases the cybersecurity risk to business operations systems and terminal industrial control systems," according to lawmakers.
Spearheaded by Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green (R-TN), the letter is also signed by subcommittee chairmen Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), and Dan Bishop (R-NC). They demand more information about how much the Biden administration knows about yet another threat from the CCP — and what, if anything, DHS is doing about it.
The letter to Mayorkas lays bare the concerns about China's potential ability to track cargo and alter port operations from afar as a result of the crane manufacturer's close ties to the CCP and People's Liberation Army:
As described recently in the Wall Street Journal, these cranes “contain sophisticated sensors that can register and track the provenance and destination of containers, prompting concerns that China could capture information about materiel being shipped in or out of the country to support U.S. military operations around the world.”If this report is correct, data collection of military shipments and visibility into our nation’s defense industrial base presents an enormous threat to our military strategic competitive advantages.
Even more concerning, the parent company of ZPMC, China Communications Construction Co. (CCCC), is a leading Belt and Road Initiative contractor with close ties to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and participates in military civil fusion. In July 2018, the CCCC’s “military-civilian fusion office signed a ‘strategic cooperation’ agreement with the PLA’s Naval Logistics Academy, pledging to collaborate on matters related to the development of maritime defense projects, theoretical research and big-data, among other areas.” ZPMC’s relationship with CCCC is disconcerting, especially given the prevalence of ZPMC cranes in U.S. ports.
Furthermore, if an adversary exploits the operational technology (OT) system of these cranes, port operations could completely shut down, suspending all commercial activity which would also disrupt our nation’s military and commercial supply chains. According to a former top U.S. counterintelligence official, “[c]ranes can be the new Huawei.” Any potential port shutdown could create catastrophic economic and security consequences. These vulnerabilities could provide opportunities to near-peer nation-state adversaries, such as China, to cripple our economy from behind a computer screen.
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GOP lawmakers also reminded Mayorkas that "DHS is the lead federal agency responsible for our nation’s maritime port security and cybersecurity" and "America’s supply chain and economic security are largely dependent on maritime ports, which help facilitate $5.4 trillion worth of commercial and military goods, annually." Given Mayorkas' refusal or inability to do the job of securing America's borders, it seems this may be another case of Biden's DHS secretary falling down on the job.
As such, the House GOP committee leaders demand that Mayorkas "schedule a briefing to Committee staff" on the issue of CCP-linked cranes with a deadline of April 14. In addition, the letter demands the following information by April 17:
- All documents and communications referring or relating to security vulnerabilities ZPMC or other foreign-manufactured cranes employed at U.S. ports pose to U.S. maritime ports from January 1, 2000 to the present;
- Documents sufficient to show the risk assessment and emergency preparedness measures in place by sector risk management agencies (SRMAs) as directed by the FY21 NationalDefense Authorization Act for the Transportation System Sector, specifically as it relates to the maritime transportation sector;
- Documents sufficient to show the United States Coast Guard’s (USCG) Maritime Cyber Readiness Branch (MCRB) standard operating procedures to assess, address, and mitigate cybersecurity risks to maritime ports;
- Documents sufficient to show how DHS, including the USCG, engages with the maritime port industry, including private companies, about cybersecurity threats;
- A document sufficient to show the percentage of private maritime transportation companies that voluntarily report cybersecurity incidents to DHS;
- A document sufficient to show the average response time of DHS, including the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and USCG, for reported maritime port cybersecurity incidents; and
- Documents sufficient to show which private companies received Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Port Security Grant program funding for FY20, FY21, FY22, and FY23 and how awardees utilized grant dollars for those fiscal years.
The request from Chairman Green and his GOP colleagues will hopefully show more about what the Biden administration knows — if anything — about China's influence and the prying eyes of the CCP at American ports and reveal whether Mayorkas is doing anything to mitigate such risks. It seems with this issue, as with most faced by President Biden, the administration wouldn't have done anything on its own to confront the threat.
In Townhall's report on the "trojan horse" cranes at the beginning of March, we noted that the issue of CCP-linked equipment at U.S. ports — paired with Biden's refusal to take a tough stance against Beijing — likely meant that it would be "up to House Republicans to conduct some oversight." Now, that's exactly what's happening.
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