Deputy Justice Minister Lisa Monaco announced the creation of a group to protect American technology from foreign adversaries, malicious technologies and other threats to national security
Deputy Justice Minister Lisa Monaco announced on Thursday the creation of a “rapid response team” to protect American technology from foreign adversaries, malware and other national security threats.
The announcement was made during Monaco’s speech at Chatham House in London.
The initiative will be a joint effort between the Department of Justice and the Department of Commerce, she said, and will aim to stop adversaries “trying to steal our best technology.”
“We will use intelligence and analytics to prosecute illicit actors, strengthen public-private partnerships to strengthen supply chains, and implement early warning measures against threats to our critical assets such as semiconductors. “, said Monaco.
In recent years, the Justice Department has increasingly focused its criminal prosecution efforts to protect against foreign adversaries of corporate intellectual property, U.S. supply chains, and private data about Americans who might be vulnerable to cyberattacks, information theft or sanctions evasion.
Law enforcement officials have repeatedly said China remains the biggest threat to U.S. technological innovation and economic security.
“The Chinese doctrine of ‘military-civilian synthesis’ means that any achievement of a Chinese company that has a military application must be transferred to the state,” Monaco said. “So if a company operating in China collects your data, you can be sure that the Chinese government has access to it.”
Last fall, the Commerce Department introduced new export controls on advanced computer components and semiconductors to prevent China from buying chips.
Monaco noted that the Biden administration is “studying how to control the flow of private capital into critical sectors” to ensure it “does not give our adversaries a national security advantage.”
Last year, a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers called on President Joe Biden to issue an executive order to increase oversight of U.S. businesses and individuals’ investments in China and other countries.
