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WASHINGTON, D.C.— House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Rick Crawford (AR-01) and Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Tom Cotton (R-AR) today sent a letter to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard requesting a review of all intelligence sharing with Spain’s intelligence, defense, and law enforcement services. This letter comes after Spain’s Ministry of the Interior reportedly awarded €12.3 million in contracts for Huawei, which has deep ties to the CCP, to provide servers and consulting services for Spain’s wiretap systems.

Chairmen Crawford and Cotton wrote:

“Since the first Trump administration, the United States has waged a whole of government effort to remove the threat Huawei equipment poses to American networks, infrastructure, and privacy. Until Spain follows suit, the U.S. Government should ensure that any information shared with the Spanish government is redacted of details that should not be shared with the CCP.”

Full text of the letter may be found here and below.

Dear Director Gabbard:

We write to urge you to review intelligence sharing arrangements with the government of Spain to ensure that any information shared with Spanish intelligence, defense, and law enforcement services does not reveal U.S. national security secrets to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).  

As you are likely aware, Spain’s Ministry of the Interior reportedly awarded €12.3 million in contracts for Huawei to provide servers and consulting services for Spain’s wiretap systems.  Huawei has deep ties to the CCP and is subject to China’s National Intelligence and Data Security laws, which compel Huawei to provide the CCP access to any Huawei information that the CCP deems necessary. In essence, Huawei and the CCP could have backdoor access to the lawful intercept system of a NATO ally—enabling them to monitor Spanish investigations of CCP spies and innumerable other intelligence activities. 

Since the first Trump administration, the United States has waged a whole of government effort to remove the threat Huawei equipment poses to American networks, infrastructure, and privacy. Until Spain follows suit, the U.S. Government should ensure that any information shared with the Spanish government is redacted of details that should not be shared with the CCP. Thank you in advance for your attention to this matter.