WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), Chairman of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, and Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) today sent a letter to Secretary Raimondo raising concerns about the Commerce Department’s recently issued Final Rule amending the Securing the Information and Communications Technology Supply Chain (ICTS) rules, to seemingly lay the groundwork for TikTok’s sham mitigation proposal “Project Texas”.
In part, the lawmakers wrote, “Authorizing TikTok’s sham mitigation proposal would be devastating to American national security, not only because TikTok is itself a threat, but also because it would set a precedent for other dangerous People’s Republic of China (PRC)-controlled ‘connected software applications’ to establish themselves in the U.S. under smokescreen safety measures like that of “Project Texas.”
Commerce’s Final Rule appears to pave the way for so-called “mitigation” rather than an outright ban, and to only require “third party” verification of the security measures rather than true, independent verification. As the lawmakers wrote, “This new language sounds like Oracle’s proposed role in ‘Project Texas.'”
Click HERE to read the full letter or read the text below.
