Karla Jones Testimony on Maryland’s Security Needs

Last month Karla Jones, ALEC Vice President for the Center for International Freedom, testified before the Maryland House Health and Government Operations Committee explaining the impact of HB188, a bill that bans entities controlled by embargoed governments from state procurement.

Thank you very much. Delegate Chisholm. Hi, i’m Karla Jones, the Vice President of the American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC) Center for International Freedom, and I’m submitting this testimony on HB 188 on behalf of ALEC, a non-profit, non-partisan organization of state lawmakers committed to limited government, free markets, and federalism.

Now, first on HB 188 — use of the ITAR list — it’s a sound way to address this technology threat, which is where ALEC has model policy. However, I do want to emphasize that the threat posed by China is unique and more challenging than other ITAR-embargoed countries, due in part to China’s manufacturing and foreign direct investment capability and China’s current technology equipment U.S. market share, which is considerable.

Also, another thing to be careful of in any legislation is ensuring that third-party vendors are vetted, that’s really important. In the case of technology equipment, U.S. state governments, including Maryland, have purchased millions of dollars’ worth of technology manufactured by companies that, by PRC law, must hand over information in their possession to Beijing when asked to do so. Many of these companies are banned outright by the federal government, as Delegate Chisholm alluded to, or by U.S. military and intelligence agencies. While federal policy directs information security for federal agencies, states determine their own information security standards, so state and local governments sometimes lack the infrastructure to mitigate the risk sufficiently.

If HB 188 passes and makes it through the Senate this time, Maryland would join the 13 states with laws prohibiting procurement contracts for technology manufactured by firms with ties to the PRC. Most were passed with bipartisan, unanimous support. Currently, the states are America’s vulnerable underbelly, especially with Xi Jinping’s focus on subnational influence and infiltration. However, the states also have the potential to be our first and strongest line of defense.

I commend Maryland, my home state, and Delegate Guzzone — you are my representative — for working to address these security vulnerabilities, and I’m honored to be here. Thank you very much.

Watch the full testimony here.