{"id":525909,"date":"2021-05-19T13:50:48","date_gmt":"2021-05-19T17:50:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=525909"},"modified":"2021-05-19T13:50:49","modified_gmt":"2021-05-19T17:50:49","slug":"biden-intel-nominee-grilled-for-huawei-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-intel-nominee-grilled-for-huawei-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden Intel Nominee Grilled for Huawei Work"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbiden-intel-nominee-grilled-for-huawei-work%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=525909&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-1318503991_736x514.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"  style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p>A Biden administration nominee for a senior intelligence post admitted to doing contract work for Chinese tech giant Huawei while employed at the company&#8217;s top lobbying firm.<\/p>\n<p><span>Christopher Fonzone, the nominee for the Director of National Intelligence&#8217;s general counsel position, would join the DNI office from Sidley Austin LLP, one Huawei&#8217;s top lobbying firms in the beltway. Fonzone told Sen. Ben Sasse (R., Neb.) he did work for the Chinese tech company\u2014which is widely considered a national security threat\u2014while employed by the firm.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;My firm asked if I would help address some questions on how U.S. administrative law works,&#8221; Fonzone told the Senate Select Intelligence Committee. &#8220;I did a very small amount of analysis with respect to that question [for Huawei], less than 10 hours.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span>In 2019, Huawei <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/newsletters\/politico-influence\/2019\/08\/12\/huawei-hires-sidley-austin-467723\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>disclosed<\/span><\/a><span> it had hired Sidley Austin to handle a portfolio ranging from export controls to national security matters. Huawei did not detail the extent of the relationship with Sidley Austin but said three lawyers from the firm would register to lobby for the Chinese tech giant. Analysis from <\/span><i><span>Nikkei Asia<\/span><\/i><span> at the time <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/asia.nikkei.com\/Spotlight\/Huawei-crackdown\/Huawei-adds-Washington-lobbyists-to-navigate-US-sanctions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>indicated<\/span><\/a><span> that Huawei hired the law firm to evade the Trump administration&#8217;s bid to sanction the company for its ties to the Chinese Communist Party and military.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Sasse said<em>\u00a0<\/em>that if confirmed, Fonzone&#8217;s work for Huawei undermines America&#8217;s ability to stand up to China.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is straightforward: You can get a Senate-confirmed national security position or you can work for the Chinese government and its national champions like Huawei, but you can&#8217;t do both. Mr. Fonzone has earned praise for his national security experience\u2014but that experience should have led him to politely decline an assignment to help Huawei,&#8221; Sasse said in a statement. &#8220;America&#8217;s message to the world should be clear: Technological ties with the Chinese Communist Party are a national security risk. That message is undermined if we begin confirming high-ranking national security personnel who spent time in the private sector helping the CCP or those companies.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span>Through April 2021, Huawei has retained the services of Sidley Austin.<\/span><span> The firm is representing embattled Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, who was arrested in Canada in 2018 for fraud, in connection to a U.S. federal investigation. Department of Justice prosecutors have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law360.com\/articles\/1375727\/feds-say-huawei-defied-order-shared-info-with-fugitive-cfo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">accused<\/a> the firm of sharing sensitive information with the executive. Since January 2020, the Department of Justice has worked to extradite Wanzhou to the United States for financial crimes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Huawei did not respond to a request for comment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Fonzone has <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sidley.com\/en\/people\/f\/fonzone-christopher-c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>worked<\/span><\/a><span> in the firm&#8217;s privacy and cybersecurity shop since 2017, with some of his work focusing on matters related to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). The federal government uses CFIUS to flag investments from foreign countries that could potentially threaten national security. On multiple occasions since 2008, CFIUS has <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.skadden.com\/insights\/publications\/2020\/03\/focus-on-foreign-access-to-technology-data\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>flagged<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/webstorage.paulhastings.com\/Documents\/PDFs\/1868.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>attempted<\/span><\/a><span> investments by Huawei.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Neither Fonzone nor Sidley Austin responded to requests for comment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Fonzone&#8217;s relationship to the foreign tech giant could draw further scrutiny from the Senate. Senate Select Intelligence Committee chairman Mark Warner (D., Va.) has <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.warner.senate.gov\/public\/index.cfm\/2020\/1\/national-security-senators-introduce-bipartisan-legislation-to-develop-5g-alternatives-to-huawei\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>introduced<\/span><\/a><span> legislation to beat Huawei in the 21st century telecommunications race and has cited China&#8217;s financial support for the tech company as a national security challenge. Fonzone would likely need to disclose the nature of his work at Sidley Austin to the Senate committee before his nomination hearing. DNI Avril Haines <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollcall.com\/2021\/04\/14\/senators-press-spy-agencies-to-focus-on-chinas-technological-advances\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>testified<\/span><\/a><span> before Congress in April to discuss the grave nature of the China tech challenge, saying that Beijing now contests American leadership on multiple fronts of the tech race.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Countries worldwide have sounded the alarm about Huawei as a tool of the Chinese Communist Party&#8217;s repressive domestic and international espionage programs. A Dutch newspaper <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2021\/apr\/19\/huawei-may-have-eavesdropped-on-dutch-mobile-networks-calls\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>said<\/span><\/a><span> Huawei may have been able to spy on 6.5 million users of a Netherlands mobile phone network since 2010, including on Chinese dissidents and calls made by the then Dutch prime minister. Facial recognition software <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/national-security\/chinas-huawei-tests-facial-recognition-software-to-identify-uighurs-to-authorities\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>tested<\/span><\/a><span> and developed by Huawei also could be used to identify Uyghur Muslims as a means to further China&#8217;s oppressive crackdown on the ethnic minority group.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The White House did not respond to a request for comment.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Biden administration nominee for a senior intelligence post admitted to doing contract work for Chinese tech giant Huawei while employed at the company&#8217;s top lobbying firm. Christopher Fonzone, the &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2278576,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-1318503991_736x514.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Biden Intel Nominee Grilled for Huawei Work","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-525909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-1318503991_736x514.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Biden Intel Nominee Grilled for Huawei Work","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=525909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2278576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=525909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=525909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=525909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}