“Over the past nine months, undocumented communication devices, including cellular radios, have also been found in some batteries from multiple Chinese suppliers,” according to a Reuters story. The “rogue communication devices” were not listed in the documentation.
No one should be surprised. Though China pretends to be all sweetness and light, a former director the U.S. National Security Agency offers the basic truth: “We know that China believes there is value in placing at least some elements of our core infrastructure at risk of destruction or disruption.”
It is in this context that I place the recent discussion of Qatar’s offered Air Force One replacement. President Donald Trump has been clear regarding the Persian Gulf state’s seemingly generous offer. He’s for it. Why pay for something when you can have it for free?
“If they give you a putt, you pick it up and walk to the next hole and say ‘thank you very much.’”
But Air Force One, which carries the United States president across the country and around the world, is more than an ordinary plane. It’s a military device.
And outsourcing military devices to other countries is a dubious activity at best. The dangers are readily understandable. “Beware of Qatarians bearing gifts”; the horse mentioned in The Aenid, presented to Troy — is the classic case.
Why trust the state of Qatar?
Just as “U.S. energy officials are reassessing the risk posed by Chinese-made devices that play a critical role in renewable energy infrastructure after unexplained communication equipment was found inside some of them,” so too should Trump’s team reassess the gift horse from the Middle East.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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4 replies on “Gift Horses & Pocketed Putts”
I have my doubts about the competence of Boeing in every area, and so think that devices could be insinuated by foreign agents into the Presidential plane as it were assembled. My expectation would be that these devices could be ferreted-out by the DHS after the government took delivery. Likewise for a plane from Qatar.
By the way, previously I have simply treated my failed batteries as electronic waste. I think that, at least for a while, I will bear the risks of disassembling them, to see what surprises I might find.
My source of disturbance concerning the Qatari plane is that any gift that makes the life of an office-holder more pleasant — or at least less unpleasant — is from the perspective of an economist an emolument, whether the office-holder takes formal possession or not. Moreover, the plan is to give this plane eventually to the Presidential Library of Donald John Trump, rather than for it to be retained or auctioned by the Federal government. So the acceptance needs Consent of Congress, or it violates Article I § 9 Clause 8 of the US Constitution.
The case here is not like the absurd dust-up during Trump’s first term, when one of his businesses rented property to foreign officials. That was a matter of trade of use of that property for money, rather than a gift.
I would be comfortable enough with the Congress giving its consent to acceptance of the plane, but telling the President in no uncertain terms that it would not be donated to the Presidential Library.
According to Senator Markwayne Mullin, a member of the the Senate Armed Services Committee, negotiations to accept the plane for use as a temporary Air Force One until the new Boeing models arrive actually began under the previous administration. (The rest of the story.)
For consumer equipment, I’d rather be spied on by the Chinese regime — because pretty much any information they could gather on me would be useless to it — than by whatever spyware the NSA sticks in US-made gear.
My greater concern about the Chinese state is that they might someday disable my equipment. Of course, so too might the DHS.