Warning: this column is really about politics. But isn’t everything these days?

The U.S. House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence recently issued a positively scathing report on Chinese telecommunications equipment giants Huawei and ZTE that basically suggested, yeah, um, let’s go with this: U.S. companies should not buy equipment from these two vendors. They cited, among other factors, a lack of transparency in the Committee’s dealings with representatives of these two firms, and allegations of impropriety.

With no hard evidence presented, the U.S. government is using little more than suspicion and innuendo to accuse both Chinese firms of being fronts for the government of China and its military. The cellular base station as an instrument of foreign intelligence? This from a government that already claims the right to intercept any traffic it wants (presumably with a court order, of course)?

OK, I was a political-science major before I switched to technology, and I was active in politics, including elective office, for many years before getting on with other matters. I’ve held government security clearances and I strongly believe that the U.S. government and military should absolutely buy American. But I also believe in a global economy and that ultimately, world peace and prosperity depend upon global economic progress, yes, through global competition.
Network Computing