DHS Official: China, Russia, and Iran ‘Attempting to Illegally Acquire’ U.S. Technolog

A top official with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claimed in a recent interview that three hostile governments are trying to “illegally acquire” American technology.

According to ABC News, Jim Mancuso, assistant director of the Global Trade Division (GTD) at Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), explained how “the Iranian drones that are being recovered on the battlefield in Ukraine, that are being recovered on the battlefield throughout the Middle East, they do have sensitive U.S. communications systems and they have sensitive microelectronics.”

And the governments of China, Russia, and Iran are all using these downed drones in their “attempts to illegally acquire” confidential American technology. These and other foreign enemies are utilizing a “very extensive network” to take American technology out of the country, actions that violate export laws. Such “procurement networks” are repackaging the equipment and shipping them through China in order to get them to countries against which the U.S. has sanctions in place, such as Iran.

“They’re going to go to China, and then from China, they’re going to be loaded on an Iranian aircraft and they’re going to be flown to Iran,” said Mancuso, noting that there is a similar effort in Russia. “We’re looking at these Russian networks that are operating in this country, and we know that they’re repackaging sensitive U.S. equipment and is going onward to further the Russian war effort [in Ukraine].”

These “procurement networks,” Mancuso said, are being targeted by HSI, which starts its efforts whenever American materials are found to be in a location they should not be.

Mancuso also warned that some of the technology being sought by China and other hostile nations can be extracted from even the simplest and most common of household items such as radios.