WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R—Tenn.) introduced three amendments to counter threats posed by Iran and the Chinese Communist Party.

PREVENTING ANOTHER DANGEROUS IRAN DEAL

“A new Iran nuclear deal will speed up the development of nuclear weapons by the largest state sponsor of terrorism,” said Senator Blackburn. “This unforced error will threaten the security of the United States, Israel, and our allies across the globe. We must not allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons, not now, not in 15 years, not ever.”

BACKGROUND

S.AMDT.177 will require congressional approval of any nuclear or missile agreement between the U.S. and Iran. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken refused to commit to submitting any future nuclear or missile agreement with Iran to Congress for consideration.

COUNTERING AMNESTY FOR BEIJING-LINKED RESEARCHERS

“The Biden administration’s openness to providing amnesty for Chinese Communist Party-linked researchers in the United States endangers our national security,” said Senator Blackburn. “Many of these researchers are stealing sensitive American technology and trade secrets while spying for the Communist Party. Rooting out and investigating such threats must not be inhibited by a lack of resources.”

BACKGROUND

S.AMDT.140 will make the funds available to counter Chinese educational and research-based espionage. Recently, the Biden administration indicated it may provide amnesty to, or halt the investigations of, researchers and academics tied to China. One of the reasons they gave for this is that the investigations are costly and resource-intensive.

Beijing uses nontraditional means of espionage to leapfrog its technology gap with Washington – including recruiting individuals working at top American universities and research institutions. A 2018 intelligence report assessed that Beijing had recruited 2,629 scientific experts from the U.S. through its “Thousand Talents Program” alone, which is just one of over 200 similar CCP initiatives.

BANNING CHINESE SPYWARE IN AMERICAN 5G NETWORKS

“China, along with state-run company Huawei, is looking to push its tainted technology onto America and our allies,” said Senator Blackburn. “We need to draw a hard line to protect our national security interests and intellectual property. Beijing can activate embedded spyware against whoever it wants, whenever it wants as long as the target is using Huawei-supplied equipment. The United States Government should not be purchasing any Huawei equipment.”

BACKGROUND

S.AMDT.322 will prohibit the acquisition by the Federal Government of telecommunications equipment produced by Huawei.

Huawei is a significant threat to the national security of the United States and its allies. Huawei Technologies faces federal criminal indictments for illegally stealing trade secrets from six American firms, including T-Mobile, Cisco Systems and Motorola Solutions.