The UK’s place in the Five Eyes intelligence sharing network is safe despite the decision to allow Huawei switchgear into the UK network, said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo yesterday.
“With respect to information and the Five Eyes relationship, that relationship is deep, it is strong, it will remain,” said Pompeo, “all the elements of the five eyes will work together on this to ensure that the systems are sufficiently secure.”
However Pompeo went on to say: “We will never permit American national security information to go across a network that we don’t have trust and confidence in, That’s the standard, whether it is a Microsoft system, it is the same whether it is a Ericsson, a Nokia system, that’s the standard if it is a Chinese system.”
“We will work with our UK counterparts, and I know the Australians, the New Zealanders, all others in the ‘five eyes’, will work together to ensure the systems are sufficiently secure and they are going to deliver the outcomes we need them to deliver, and that we have only a level of risk in the system that we find tolerable. I’m sure that we will protect American information to that standard.”
The inconsistencies in the UK’s half-in, half-out approach to Huawei seem to be matched by the USA’s approach.
Source: electronicsweekly
