National security

Mattis Under Pressure to Look into China's Backdoor Threat to National Security

A group of lawmakers has begun pressuring Defense Secretary James Mattis to look into whether China’s effort to acquire additional access to the largest dedicated infrared telescope in the Northern Hemisphere would allow it to spy on some of the Pentagon’s space secrets.

House Armed Services Strategic Forces subcommittee chairman Mike Rogers and ranking member Jim Cooper, with chairwoman Elise Stefanik and ranking member Jim Langevin of the House Armed Services Emerging Threats and Capabilities subcommittee, sent Mattis an April 26 letter describing their concerns about the East Asian Observatory’s access to the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope on Wednesday. The Chinese Academy of Sciences funds the observatory in conjunction with Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. The foreign research group wants access to the telescope, which is leased by the University of Hawaii and operated under a Scientific Cooperation Agreement led by the University of Arizona.