WASHINGTON DC – The State Department, reacting to security concerns after its purchase of computers from a Chinese company, will not use the equipment for classified information, an aide to Virginia Republican Rep. Frank Wolf said on Thursday.
In March, the State Department said it had purchased a batch of computers from China’s Lenovo Group, CNET.Com reported.
At the time, Michael Wessel, a member of the congressionally created U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, said the purchase should be investigated, especially if codes embedded into the computers could be remotely activated.
The security concerns came shortly after Congress pressured a state-owned Arab company, Dubai Ports World, into walking away from plans to manage several U.S. port terminals.
“The computers will not be used for transmitting classified information,” said the congressman’s aide, who asked not to be identified.
A Lenovo official on Thursday said he was still gathering information on Wolf’s news conference and declined to comment.
Wolf chairs a House panel that oversees federal funds for the State Department. He was scheduled to talk to reporters about the State Department computer deal later on Thursday.
In March, the State Department said nearly 16,000 Lenovo computers, valued at more than $13 million, were purchased under standard U.S. government purchasing rules. The computers were procured through CDW, a government contractor based in Vernon Hills, Ill.
Lenovo bought IBM’s personal computer division last May. The computers bought by the State Department were assembled in the United States and Mexico with integrated circuits made in Taiwan, according to the company.
While the computer order was for unclassified systems with removable hard drives, some experts raised concerns about the opportunity for intelligence gathering through hardware and software.
Last year, China’s state-controlled CNOOC dropped its bid to acquire U.S. oil and gas company Unocal after a strong backlash from the U.S. Congress.
