Lindsay P. Gorman Profile picture
Dec 3, 2019 13 tweets 5 min read Read on X
#NATO says it will address #5G. Here's what that agenda should look like. My thoughts in @DefenseOne #NATOLondon. (And THREAD) (1/x)
defenseone.com/ideas/2019/12/…
(2/x) The 5G issue is a bellweather of how #NATO will handle China.

Done right, #5G can rejuvenate the alliance around its central mission: protecting democratic states from authoritarian incursion.

Botch it, and the rift will only increase.

Here are three concrete steps:
(3/x)
1) #NATO should allow members to count a portion of outlays on secure 5G systems towards national 2% defense spending goals.

If investing in trustworthy vendors is a priority for the United States (it should be) the alliance’s cost-sharing structure should reflect it.
(4/x)
2) #NATO should conduct technical and political risk assessments on 5G networks and build shared cyber standards.

Here, the US should push for transparency requirements of 5G vendors on:

➡️corporate ownership
➡️direct government funding
➡️state influence & control
(5/x) Whether an authoritarian government subsidizes telecommunications equipment to undercut local competitors—or controls a company to steal military, commercial, or personal data—is *relevant* when considering allowing it to build the foundations of economies of NATO states.
(6/x) In short #NATO should require 5G suppliers to show credible independence from foreign governments.

That would foster internet governance to resist authoritarian surveillance & erect barriers to unfettered access of private citizen data.

Values would be at the center.
(7/x)
3) The US should advance cooperative business models & infrastructure sharing arrangements to help countries choose trusted-yet-costlier systems over cheaper alternatives. NATO partnerships w/the EU, Finland, Sweden could build joint funding and R&D for secure 5G & 6G.
(8/x) For the rest of NATO, these concrete steps are more politically viable. Amid divisions within allied nations over #5G, a tenuous “plausible deniability” consensus may emerge: to ratchet up requirements without singling out one country or company.
(9/x) The EU may be trending this way. A recent risk assessment noted the risks of "state actors" in 5G, but stopped short of naming China explicitly.

ec.europa.eu/commission/pre…
(10/x) The consequences of disunity are large, including a potential rift in US intelligence sharing with allies that build 5G with Chinese vendors.

wsj.com/articles/drop-…
(11/x) Such an outcome would be disastrous for the alliance. It would open the door to greater authoritarian interference in Western democracies, and not just from China. NATO intelligence sharing is a central tenet of its plan to combat hybrid threats from Russia and others.
(12/x) Given Russia’s long-standing goal of fracturing NATO, it’s no coincidence that Russian state media champions Huawei.
(13/x) Democracies need a competitive offer and a competitive vision for the future internet that starts with counting trusted 5G spending towards 2-percent targets, conducting joint risk assessments, and pursuing cooperative business models.

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More from @LindsayPGorman

Oct 31, 2022
Heading into the midterms, nearly 30 percent of major-party candidates in Senate races and 1/5 in House races now have #TikTok accounts. Natsec concerns remain.

🚨New report out from me and Nash Miller @SecureDemocracy, and covered by @washingtonpost.🧵
securingdemocracy.gmfus.org/candidates-tik…
I told @Cat_Zakrzewski,“It’s very clear that TikTok is not ready for the onslaught of political content...And there’s a question whether TikTok — being owned by a Chinese company — can ever really be ready for handling U.S. political content responsibly.”
washingtonpost.com/technology/202…
National security concerns around data security on #TikTok and the enormous surface area for Chinese censorship/propaganda remain unresolved.

But that hasn't stopped US politicians from experimenting with the platform to reach its expansive base of young voters.
Read 13 tweets
Sep 28, 2022
Tomorrow, the International Telecommunication Union votes on its next Secretary General in Bucharest, Romania.

US officials from @POTUS to @ABlinken to @StateCDP have taken an unprecedented interest in the vote of a technical body.

The internet’s future is at stake. 🧵
US candidate @DoreenBogdan is running on a platform of a “Trusted, Connected Digital Future” against Russia’s Rashid Ismailov, a former Telecom Minister and Huawei VP who is likely to support the emerging autocratic view of the future internet.
The @ITU is the world’s oldest UN agency (formerly the International Telegraph Union) and is a technical standards body where engineers and tech companies—but also governments—convene and vote on the protocols for emerging technologies from #6G to #AI.
securingdemocracy.gmfus.org/introductory-v…
Read 12 tweets
Sep 26, 2022
The Biden admin and #TikTok have drafted a preliminary agreement to resolve national security concerns but face hurdles over the terms, as the platform negotiates to keep operating in the United States without major changes to its ownership structure.
nytimes.com/2022/09/26/tec…
I've written previously about what the threats of #TikTok are to democratic societies for @SecureDemocracy.

There are two main ones:
1⃣ Data exfiltration
2⃣ Information manipulation

So far, policy efforts such as via #CFIUS have focused chiefly on 1⃣ .
securingdemocracy.gmfus.org/qa-with-lindsa… Image
And for @lawfareblog on what the US and its democratic partners -- many of whom like Australia🇦🇺 have raised and continue to raise similar concerns -- should be doing.
lawfareblog.com/way-forward-us…
Read 8 tweets
May 21, 2021
To outcompete autocrats, democracies need affirmative strategies & a positive vision for emerging technology.

Over the last 10 months ASD partnered w/@ISDglobal @Demos @SNFAgoraJHU on *The Good Web Project* to articulate a vision for an Internet compatible w/liberal democracy.🧵 Image
Democratic tech cooperation is on the rise, from the Quad 🇦🇺🇮🇳🇯🇵🇺🇸Critical & Emerging Tech Working Group, to the proposed EU-US Trade & Tech Council.🇪🇺🇺🇸

Many initiatives rightly seek to unite democracies to contest the rise of techno-authoritarianism.
securingdemocracy.gmfus.org/future-interne…
But while there is a growing consensus among developed democracies on what they are pushing against, there is considerably less understanding of what they are striving for.

And wide-ranging differences across the democratic spectrum on technology issues complicate coherence.
Read 14 tweets
Jan 18, 2021
Parler back up thanks to Russian DDoS protection software DDoS-Guard IP.

Fun fact: DDoS-Guard IP also hosts the official website for Hamas.
It remains to be seen how much the platform will reconstitute itself, but the foreign influence implications of a Russia-based host of Americans’ speech are deeply troubling.
According to @AdamSculthorpe, the Parler website domain is registered with Epik, which services Gab, InfoWars, and The Daily Stormer. Extremist sites connect beyond the surface layer of the internet.
Read 6 tweets
Oct 27, 2020
Beijing is making a concerted push to lead the Future Internet, across infrastructure, application, and governance domains.

It's time for democracies to push back.

In a new report, I detail this effort and provide 47 recs for the US, Europe, & allies.
securingdemocracy.gmfus.org/future-interne…
As @washingtonpost writes, "The report from the Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund lays out steps U.S. officials need to take to compete with China in the race for emerging technologies" @Joseph_Marks_ @TonyaJoRiley

Let's dig in!
washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/…
Democracies and autocracies are engaged in a contest for the soul of the Internet.

Just as our current Internet of mobile apps was a step change from the world of dial-up, the "Future Internet" will have just as significant impacts on our information environment & our democracy.
Read 22 tweets

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