News / Commentary

COMMENTARY: Nate Snyder — “We need to be in control of our own destiny” when it comes to 5G

Posted on

Nate Snyder, a former counterterrorism official to the Department of Homeland Security and Senior Advisor at Cambridge Global Advisors, appeared on “The Hill TV” to assess the threats that accompany Huawei’s involvement in the emerging 5G rollout. President Trump’s executive order banning Huawei components in the US serves as a domestic “firewall,” however alignment around this policy from the remaining members of the Five Eyes alliance is needed to secure the flow of information among these nations. 

National security officials have voiced strong opposition to the use of Huawei components in 5G infrastructure, but lawmakers have given greater attention to … Read More

PERSPECTIVE: The Threat Huawei Poses

Posted on

This article, by Tom Ridge, originally appeared in Real Clear World on June 25, 2019.

U.S. allies are considering the risks for 5G security of using Huawei equipment. Earlier this month the British Parliament’s Science and Technology Committee held a hearing on the matter. It remains clear that the risks posed by Huawei are not limited to the insufficient technical expertise the company possesses, but more importantly it is the threat that Chinese technology companies pose to our national security, and the security of our allied nations.

Given what’s at stake with 5G, the concerns over Huawei as a potential … Read More

PERSPECTIVE: Protecting Europe from China will strengthen the future of NATO

Posted on

This piece, by Douglas Lute, originally appeared in EurActiv on June 19, 2019. 

Competition with China is mostly economic, but NATO members need to pay attention. American and European interests align when it comes to the growing strategic competition between the Western alliance and China, writes Douglas Lute.

Douglas Lute was the U.S. ambassador to NATO from 2013 to 2017. He is a senior fellow at the Belfer Center at Harvard University, and president of Cambridge Global Advisors.

NATO, the world’s oldest and most successful alliance, recently turned 70 years old. As a report from Harvard’s Belfer Center explains, the … Read More

COMMENTARY: Nate Snyder – Huawei 5G and Transatlantic Security – “There are vulnerabilities all over the place.”

Posted on

Nate Snyder, a senior advisor at Cambridge Global Advisors and former expert on counterintelligence at the Department of Homeland Security, addressed emerging cybersecurity and privacy threats in a recent conversation with Newsradio WGAN. Speaking on the relationship between China and the United Kingdom, Snyder labeled the growing influence of Chinese tech firm Huawei as a major source of concern, given Chinese state ownership of the company, and its possible access to western data through 5G technology. Specifically, Snyder points out that Huawei’s global influence over the 5G network will give it an advantageous position over the United States. This

… Read More

PERSPECTIVE: The Huawei 5G Row Highlights China’s Growing Threat To Global Security

Posted on

This article, by Sherri Ramsey, originally appeared in The Huffington Post UK on June 4th, 2019.

On the heels of President Trump’s Executive Order that would ban Chinese telecommunications equipment maker Huawei from the United States, the company held a flashy event in London to mark the launch of its newest phone. This came as the President prepares next week to urge Theresa May to eliminate the firm from the development of 5G wireless networks in the UK.

Despite warnings from New Zealand and Australia, and continued calls from U.S. officials to ban Huawei equipment from 5G networks, the … Read More

COMMENTARY: Nate Snyder – “Drastic Action” Needed to Secure 5G Networks

Posted on

Speaking on The Hill TV’s Rising on May 20, 2019, former counterintelligence official Nate Snyder stressed the urgency of addressing the security risks associated with emerging 5G technology. While the promise of faster speeds sparks excitement among consumers, it also prompts privacy concerns as well as consideration of how bad actors may exploit these gains. Snyder notes that malicious actors will always search for vulnerabilities within our systems. In this case, the greatest vulnerability stems from the debated presence of Chinese-owned and -operated Huawei components in our 5G infrastructure. In this scenario, US intelligence agencies face a serious risk of … Read More

PERSPECTIVE: 5G risk is about more than simply securing competitive advantage

Posted on

This piece, by Nate Snyder, originally appeared in The Hill on May 17, 2019.

The dawning of 5G network capabilities will revolutionize telecommunications and online networks. Data transport speeds will increase to 10 times faster than what they are with 4G. As countries across the globe discover and develop new 5G innovations, so too will terrorist organizations, non-state actors, and lone offenders. If there is a new breakthrough with the public at-large, it will also be leveraged by bad-actors; they will develop and discover their own insidious innovations and exploitations.

While working on counterterrorism efforts at the Department of Homeland … Read More

PERSPECTIVE: Post-9/11 Counterterrorism Is Right Model for Infrastructure Cybersecurity

Posted on

This piece, by Gen. Francis X. Taylor, originally appeared on Homeland Security Today on April 2, 2019.

Nearly 18 years ago, we were blindsided when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001. We now know that if there had been better information sharing between U.S. law enforcement and intelligence organizations that we may have been able to foil the plot. In the years since that devastating attack, the U.S. national security establishment has revamped its approach to information sharing for the purpose of counterterrorism. That new approach involves the systematic sharing of threat … Read More

PERSPECTIVE: A Centralized, National 5G Network Would Pose More Harm Than Good

Posted on

This piece, by Gen. Francis X. Taylor, originally appeared on Homeland Security Today on March 20, 2019.

5G wireless technology is poised to become a critical piece of infrastructure at home and abroad, and the efforts well underway by U.S. wireless carriers to develop and deploy 5G are not only a matter of economic security, but also of national security. Not only will 5G mean lightning-fast data speeds upward of 20Gbps that will usher in a host of innovations, but the fifth generation of connectivity will allow for more secure and better connections among Internet of Things, enterprise networking and … Read More

PERSPECTIVE: We’ve Spent Billions on Cybersecurity: How Are We Doing?

Posted on

This piece by Brian de Vallance, originally appeared on Homeland Security Today on January 30, 2019. 

Protecting America’s critical infrastructure — essential to our everyday life — from cyber attacks remains one of our nation’s most important missions. How are we doing?

Not so good, by some accounts. In 2017, a major MIT report concluded that after spending billions of dollars over the past few decades, our infrastructure is somehow less secure than we were 30 years ago. Its authors conclude that “the vulnerability of the systems that power our nation is a national disgrace.”

And this is not merely … Read More