Senator Hawley spoke out this morning against tech insiders’ attempts to gut provisions in the FY 2021 NDAA that would end the Department of Defense’s (DoD) dangerous overreliance on Chinese printed circuit boards (PCBs).
Tech insiders are trying to gut provisions of the defense funding bill that would restrict use of Chinese tech products. Senate negotiators, don’t give in! This is not the time to go soft on #China
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) October 1, 2020
Senator Hawley and his colleagues introduced provisions to secure DoD’s PCB supply chains in the Senate and House versions of the FY 2021 NDAA. His provision can be found in Sec. 808 on pages 502-509 of the Senate NDAA.
DoD uses PCBs in nearly all of its electronic systems, including many critical ones. Far too many of those PCBs are currently sourced from China. This poses an unacceptable risk to our national security. Not only can the Chinese government sabotage PCBs sold for use by DoD. It can also sever DoD’s access to Chinese PCBs altogether, jeopardizing U.S. military operations and modernization efforts alike.
The provisions introduced by Senator Hawley and his colleagues end DoD’s overreliance on Chinese PCBs by requiring the Department to move key parts of its PCB supply chains out of China and into the United States and other trusted nations. The provisions simultaneously strengthen U.S. industry and make sure we are never again dependent on a foreign adversary for the components our military needs to protect the American people.