Ford is looking to partner with multiple CCP-linked firms. Is this a good idea, or will it bring software vulnerabilities?

From Fox News. Ford Motor Company is planning to contract technology and software from at least four Chinese firms that supply similar services to the Chinese government and military, and the North Korean government, according to contracts obtained by Republican investigators.

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The revelations — which were released Monday by Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., the chair of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, and Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash. — are part of the GOP’s ongoing joint investigation into Ford’s partnership with Fujian, China-based electric vehicle (EV) battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL).

According to the Republican leaders, they recently reviewed portions of Ford’s signed agreements with CATL. Those documents revealed the four Chinese firms in question “will be intimately involved” in the design, construction, and information technology processes for a proposed EV battery factory Ford is building in Marshall, Michigan, with services provided by CATL.

“It is indefensible for Ford to use the same cloud integration and data provider that is linked to North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs sanctions evasion activity,” Gallagher and McMorris Rodgers wrote to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen last week.

“Before the Ford plant even comes online, its entire security system could be compromised by this software,” they continued. “The same company that is actively supporting the PRC’s surveillance state will have the capability to embed backdoors, spyware, and other forms of malware within Ford’s [cloud service] infrastructure, compromising the confidentiality and integrity of Ford’s sensitive information and posing risk to American’s data privacy rights.” …

Gallagher and McMorris Rodgers sent a separate letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, asking her agency’s Bureau of Industry and Security to investigate the four unnamed software service providers. They specifically asked the agency to consider placing the companies on a list of entities subject to significant U.S. trade restrictions. …

And, in a third letter, the Republicans asked Ford President and CEO James Farley to make a relevant company official available for an interview with their committees. …

In February 2023, Ford announced it would invest $3.5 billion to build a lithium iron phosphate battery plant — to supply its growing electric vehicle manufacturing — in Marshall, creating 2,500 new jobs. As part of the announcement, the U.S. automaker said it had reached an agreement with CATL to manufacture the battery cells at the plant using services provided by the Chinese company.

The plan received widespread pushback from national security experts and lawmakers over CATL’s extensive ties to the CCP, though Ford has downplayed the criticism and repeatedly said it maintains sole ownership of the plant. …

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(Excerpt from Fox News. Photo Credit: ford car by Dan Dennis on Unsplash)