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Quick Analysis

Foreign Policy Update

IRAN-IRAQ

Reports are out again that Iran is storing large caches in Iraq and that it is believed they may be nuclear capable. A State Department official traveling in Morocco said this is not news and that he “gave a backgrounder… two months ago or more… where I said very clearly… Iran is storing ballistic missiles in Iraq. I’ve said it a number of times in background briefings in the bullpen. So this is not news; this should not be any news to you.” Many in the media are treating this as a new development in the region.

Iran has been developing and deploying missiles throughout the region before and after the United States pulled out of the Iranian nuclear deal. Many analysts believe Iran’s intent is to allow it to conduct a “shadow war” with a level of deniability. Tehran could try to claim it is not responsible for the actions of other states or rogue organizations if the weapons are used offensively.

According to the official Secretary of State Michael Pompeo believes it is incredibly problematic that right now, as Iraq is in the process of trying to sort out a new government and a way ahead, that “Qasem Soleimani is there in all these meetings, meddling, essentially; that Iran is – is trying to tilt the balance of – or the impact, the trajectory of these key sort of Iraqi matters.”

He added that Washington is holding accountable Iraqi – Iranian-backed militias that are killing protesters. “We’re supporting the protesters’ legitimate grievances, and we are talking to Iraqi officials about what we think – well, we are supporting the Iraqi Government, whatever government that will come out. We have a policy of not meddling in government formation.”

CHINA

In a press conference in Portugal Secretary Pompeo was asked about Hwawei regarding the 5G network security challenge to other nations. He said: “We’ve approached this very consistently everywhere.  It begins with American national security.  So we have the privacy interests of American citizens that we want to make sure and protect.  And so as we think about where Americans’ information will be, we want to make sure that that information only gets into networks that we trust and that we’re confident that won’t end up in the hands of a malign actor or the Chinese Communist Party.” The 5G rollout is expected to occur in 2020. It has the potential to be used by China to gain a strategic advantage over foreign governments and citizens by delivering vast amounts of data to Chinese intelligence organizations.

Pompeo said the United States recognizes the sovereignty of every nation and their right to make decisions for themselves. But, he added, “we have tried for these past couple years to make clear to our friends all around the world of the intended risks, and that they’ll do so via a science and technology-based set of risks.” The security question concerns the privacy of information on non-Chinese citizens. Pompeo noted: “The leadership in Europe has a responsibility to ensure that the networks on which European private citizens’ information flows are secure and safe and trusted and this information won’t flow to places that that information ought not to be. And so our mission, the United States mission, has been to share what we know, what we understand, and then how America is thinking about decisions we will have to make in light of where American information travels as well.”

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EUROPEAN UNION

According to Morgan Ortagus, State Department Spokesperson, on December 3, the European Union (EU) Council identified serious risks posed to 5G telecommunications networks if they are built using untrusted vendors. In the future these networks could form the backbone of the critical infrastructure of national economies and be subject to manipulation by China. Washington welcomed the acknowledgement and Ortagus said the US urged its European partners and allies to “ensure only trusted vendors participate in any part of their future 5G networks.”

Later in December the European Union is expected to release its 5G risk mitigation toolbox. Ortagus said the US hopes its recommendations will “include strong measures to address the risks identified in today’s statement and in the EU’s Risk Assessment published in October 2019.”

Washington’s position is that Chinese telecommunications firms such as Huawei and ZTE must comply with the directives of the government of the People’s Republic of China, without allowing it any meaningful checks and balances that would prevent misuse of data by officials.

 Allowing these vendors anywhere in a country’s 5G networks would present critical risks to the privacy, human rights, and security of its citizens. 

DARIA NOVAK served in the United States State Department during the Reagan Administration, and currently is on the Board of the American Analysis of News and Media Inc., which publishes usagovpolicy.com and the New York Analysis of Policy and Government.  Each Saturday, she presents key updates on U.S. foreign policy from the State Department.

Illustration: Pixabay