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Congressman Bob Latta (R-OH5) and Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) penned a joint op-ed in The Washington Times highlighting the importance of Congress passing their ROUTERS Act, which will help safeguard U.S networks and protect American citizens from Chinese Communist Party cyberattacks. 

Read an excerpt of the op-ed below, or click here to read the piece in its entirety.

"Tens of millions of families and small businesses across the country use wireless routers as their primary access point to the internet. Many of these routers are susceptible to infiltration by foreign actors, including China, jeopardizing our national security and exposing our country to serious danger. 

"Just last year, U.S. and Japanese officials revealed that BlackTech, a hacker group connected to the Chinese Communist Party, targeted routers at government agencies and corporations in the two countries to steal intellectual property, including from the defense, technology and electronics sectors.

"In January, the Justice Department also reported that Chinese-sponsored hackers infected routers in the U.S. with malware to target critical water, energy and transportation infrastructure — an attack that FBI Director Christopher Wray called a “pre-positioning to cause real-world harm to American citizens and communities in the event of conflict” between America and China..."

"...As the ranking member on the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Data Security and the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, we are spearheading the bipartisan Removing Our Unsecure Technologies to Ensure Reliability and Security Act, known as the ROUTERS Act. 

"This crucial legislation would require the Commerce Department to review the national security threat posed by any router that is designed, developed, manufactured or supplied by a company under the jurisdiction of China, as well as U.S. adversaries Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela. 

"Depending on the study’s outcome, Congress could take further action to require the Commerce Department to designate dangerous routers as national security threats, allowing the FCC to halt their sale in America under the Trump-era Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act.

"Given the grave threats to our national security, it should be no surprise that the House Energy and Commerce Committee recently approved the ROUTERS Act in a unanimous and bipartisan 43-0 vote.

"As China works to undermine U.S. global leadership, it is essential that we protect our intellectual property, critical infrastructure and American citizens from the Chinese Communist Party’s malicious cyberattacks. With the ROUTERS Act, Congress has an incredible opportunity to help make that happen."