Following Pedro Sánchez's statements against Trump at the Davos Forum, friction over relations with Israel, and especially the recent NATO Summit and the 5% Defense spending, a new point of tension between Washington and Moncloa has emerged. The US Congress is astonished by Spain's decision to award a contract to Huawei, the Chinese giant banned in the US, to renew the servers storing wiretaps from the Central Operative Unit of the Civil Guard.
The contract amount is 12.3 million euros, insignificant in the realm of Defense budgets. However, it is not the size of the contract that has raised concerns among the Intelligence committees of both legislative chambers. They fear that with this award, China could potentially gain access to sensitive information from the United States. They have conveyed this to Tulsi Gabbard, the country's Director of National Intelligence, in a letter sent this Wednesday, copied to the Attorney General, the Secretary of Defense, and the CIA Director; requesting that Spain not have access to sensitive information to prevent it from ending up in Beijing's hands.
In the letter, Congressman Rick Crawford and Senator Tom Cotton warn about Huawei's ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its compliance with Xi Jinping's government's national intelligence laws "which require providing the party access to any information it deems of interest." In the politicians' view, the contract between the technology giant and the Spanish Civil Guard could provide "backdoor access to the legal interception system of a NATO ally, allowing them to monitor Spanish investigations on CCP spies and numerous other intelligence activities."
The relationship between our country and Huawei has been a headache for years, not only for the intelligence community across the Atlantic but also within the European Union due to the deployment of 5G networks. The US embassy in Madrid has closely followed the issue and is aware of the framework agreements. However, what has triggered a reaction is the decision by the Interior Ministry, revealed last week, to extend the contracts. Particularly, the specialized community's reaction, which recently filled social media with comments of disbelief and harsh criticism, some interpreting that Spain has placed all its security information on servers managed by the Chinese company, not just "a small part," as the Government now insists to de-escalate the situation.
"There are states that do not take security seriously, states that do not take security seriously at all, and states that really do not take security seriously. And then there is Spain," criticized Phillips P. Obrien, a Security Studies professor. "Oh my goodness, no! Spain has just handed over the keys to its intelligence kingdom to the CCP (Huawei). NATO and other partners will establish protections and limits on the exchange as soon as possible. Eyes wide open! Except in Spain," predicted William Evanina, former Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center under Barack Obama and Donald Trump in a message on X.
The decision lies with the Trump Administration
All these comments have reached the administration and lawmakers, who now demand consequences and a review of the information shared with Spain by the US. "This headline is almost unimaginable. Spain is playing with fire by putting its national security and that of its citizens at risk. By using a known CCP agent to collect and store vast amounts of sensitive data, Spain has become vulnerable to clear threats to security and sovereignty, not only of itself but also of its allies worldwide," wrote Congressman Rick Crawford, Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, in a letter addressed to National Security Advisor Tulsi Gabbard. "Every country that opens its doors to Huawei only provides more opportunities for the CCP-controlled company to extract data used to promote its geopolitical objectives. As the CCP continues to accumulate these 'victories,' it is encouraged to pursue its next significant influence strategy. The international community must work together to defend against the destructive and widespread influence of the CCP," the letter states.
Senator Tom Cotton has done the same, emphasizing that "the United States has deployed a comprehensive government effort to eliminate the threat that Huawei equipment poses to American networks, infrastructure, and privacy. Until Spain follows suit, the US government must ensure that any information shared with the Spanish government contains details that should not be shared with the CCP," a clear request for a disconnection.
Gabbard, for now, has not commented. The Spanish Embassy in the US is now working against the clock to explain that it is a very small part of the information and does not affect the security of the US or NATO, and to put together a strong response to dissuade the Congress and the National Security Advisor (herself highly criticized for her possible sympathies towards China) from taking any measures that would break the ties. Intelligence sources recently explained that despite the political and ideological problems between both governments and the limited diplomatic connection, the intelligence and security relationship was working very well. But this could jeopardize it.
"Dear Director Gabbard, we are writing to urge you to review the intelligence sharing agreements with the Spanish government to ensure that the information shared with Spanish intelligence, defense, and law enforcement services does not reveal US national security secrets to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). As you are probably aware, the Spanish Interior Ministry would have awarded contracts worth 12.3 million euros to Huawei for the supply of servers and consulting services for Spain's phone tapping systems. In essence, Huawei and the CCP could have backdoor access to a legal interception system of a NATO ally, allowing them to monitor Spanish investigations on CCP spies and numerous other intelligence activities (...) Until Spain follows suit, the US government must ensure that any information shared with the Spanish government contains details that should not be shared with the CCP," concludes the letter.
In the justification report of the controversial contract, Interior recalls that the UCO's main mission is to investigate and prosecute matters related to drug trafficking and organized crime. So far, the results of these investigations, from audios to documents or images from seized devices, have been stored in "a set of storage cabins that have been gradually acquired over time." These systems are now facing the end of their life cycle and obsolescence, which, according to the Ministry led by Fernando Grande-Marlaska, necessitates replacement.
In their search for new suppliers, Interior justified the tender and detailed the scope in which the new UCO equipment would be used. "It is necessary to expand and acquire new (...) update, improve, and increase the available storage volume to meet the increasingly broad support requests, both in terms of the number of supports and the amount of seized devices and their growing storage capacity," they described. Huawei was the final awardee of the contract.
"The UCO is not the CNI, it is highly unlikely that any of the secrets handled by the UCO pose a risk to US national sovereignty," state cybersecurity experts. While acknowledging that European countries, in general, "should promote community companies instead of Chinese ones" in these types of public contracts, they assume that the Interior contract was made in accordance with current European laws. "The US government, in any case, does not have the authority to tell any European country which companies they can operate with," they insist.