NEWSFLASH: Experts Warn That Regulators’ Anti-Tech Push Threatens America’s National And Economic Security Vis-à-Vis China
As China aggressively promotes its domestic tech sector and gathers vast amounts of international user data, pursuing anti-tech legislation is the exact opposite of what Congress should be doing to protect America’s national and economic security. It’s critical to understand what breaking up our world-leading tech sector would mean for our most important national interests.
There is a “dangerous disconnect” between overzealous regulators and national security concerns, explains former Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Resilience Policy Brian Cavanaugh. “When it comes to global technology leadership, America has a growing and dangerous disconnect between the regulatory zeal of some and the national security interests of all Western countries. This ‘tech disconnect’ threatens to undermine the United States’ national security strategy while handing a permanent geopolitical advantage to China, our most capable authoritarian adversary.”
— Tech is the “backbone of our national security [and] our economic prosperity” and antitrust bills “would only serve to strengthen China’s efforts to rewrite a new world order,” continues Cavanaugh. “Undoubtedly, there is a need for improved oversight and greater accountability within the U.S. tech industry. However, it should not come at the expense of personal and national security. After all, tech isn’t just another sector — it’s the very backbone of our national security, our economic prosperity, and the advancement of Western values. Ultimately, these proposals could threaten the safety and security of our nation and our allies. The antitrust legislation aimed at U.S. tech companies will not achieve the overstated goals of their sponsors; rather, these bills would only serve to strengthen China’s efforts to rewrite a new world order.”
Proposed legislation, such as AICOA and OAMA, would place American tech “at a structural disadvantage” to foreign rivals, write Former National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow and Former National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien. “Unfortunately, legislation now under consideration in Congress — specifically, bills like the Open App Markets Act and the American Innovation and Choice Online Act — will place US companies at a structural disadvantage vis-à-vis China, leaving our tech industry weakened and vulnerable to the CCP. If these bills become law, China could quickly surpass and displace the United States in the global tech sector. We cannot afford to cede this important ground to Beijing. We all support and welcome robust competition in the marketplace. But government mandates that open our tech platforms to foreign rivals without sufficient safeguards will lead to more malign activity by Russia, China, Iran and North Korea, not to mention cyber mercenaries or non-state criminal actors.”
— Policymakers need to keep in mind that “America’s strength is rooted in our ability to innovate and create,” continue Kudlow and O’Brien. “In great competition for power, it matters which nation controls technology’s future. Lawmakers must remember that America’s strength is rooted in our ability to innovate and create. Legislation that undermines the innovation and ingenuity of the American private sector will not help American consumers. It will, however, be a boon to Beijing and Moscow.”
Now is not the time to “hobble our private sector innovators by passing anti-innovation legislation” such as AICOA, OAMA, and the JCPA, warn former U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand and U.S. Senator Scott Brown and Robert O’Brien. “America must maintain its edge in the technology sector. As we have seen in Ukraine, U.S. tech leadership has real world national security consequences for the U.S. and its allies. But we cannot take our status for granted. Today, five of the top 20 global technology firms are based in China. If we hobble our private sector innovators by passing anti-innovation legislation, China’s position will grow and grow fast. America will, in turn, suffer.”
— “Constraining American tech companies is detrimental to our national security and will undercut the prosperity that such enterprises have fostered for the past three decades,” Brown and O’Brien further warn.