http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20060519/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_china_computers_1
By FOSTER KLUG, Associated Press Writer Thu May 18, 8:53 PM ET
WASHINGTON - The State Department said Thursday that 16,000 computers
it bought from a U.S.-based company partially owned by the Chinese
government should be used only for unclassified work after a lawmaker
criticized the purchase as potentially dangerous to national security.
Richard Griffin, assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security,
said in a letter sent to Rep. Frank Wolf [R-Va] that the State
Department also is changing the way it buys technology to guarantee the
security of U.S. information.
The government, Griffin wrote, is committed to making sure the purchase
from Lenovo, the world's No. 3 PC maker, will not "compromise our
information and communication channels."
Wolf, R-Va., chairman of the House subcommittee that finances State
Department operations, said he raised alarms after he discovered that
officials planned to use at least 900 of the computers in classified
work and at U.S. embassies and consulates abroad. That, he said,
possibly could give China access to sensitive U.S. information.
...
"We are absolutely confident in the security of our manufacturing
process," said Jeffrey Carlisle, Lenovo's vice president of government
relations. "These computers do not present a risk to U.S. security."
Lenovo is based in North Carolina, but also has offices in Beijing and
around the world. A Chinese government agency owns 28 percent of the
company....
Speaking to reporters, Wolf called Chinese spying efforts "frightening"
and said it was "no secret that the United States is a principal target
of Chinese intelligence services."
"No American government agency should want to purchase from them," Wolf
said.
...
Larry Wortzel, head of a U.S. government commission that studies
security and economic issues related to China, had seen no evidence of
tampering in the Lenovo computers but said Chinese intelligence
services are capable of doctoring computer systems.
"Would I buy one for my home?" he asked. "Absolutely."
But, he added, the U.S. government should not have sensitive material
passing through computers made by a company controlled by a foreign
country.
Carlisle, the Lenovo official, said that the Chinese government agency
that owns part of Lenovo does not get involved in the company's
strategy or decision-making and does not appoint people to the
company's board.
"We're not a state-owned enterprise," he said.
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Received on Wed May 31 23:17:04 2006