House Committee Leaders Urge FBI To Halt Certifying Chinese Biometric Devices

Authored by Frank Fang via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours)

The bipartisan leaders of a House committee are urging the FBI to halt the certification of biometric products manufactured by Chinese tech companies, citing risks to U.S. national security.

In a letter dated July 15 to FBI Director Kash Patel, Reps. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), chair and ranking member, respectively, of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said that biometric products from 32 Chinese companies are currently on the agency’s Certified Products List.

The FBI should “put an end to its ongoing certification of products from Chinese military-linked and surveillance companies … that could be used to spy on Americans, strengthen the repressive surveillance state of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and otherwise threaten U.S. national security,” the lawmakers wrote.

Among the 32 companies, the lawmakers highlighted Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology, which was added to the Commerce Department’s Entity List in 2019 over its involvement in the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) human rights violations in China’s far-western Xinjiang region. In 2021, Hikvision was designated as a company linked to China’s military-industrial complex in an executive order.

Currently on the FBI list is Hikvision’s HK300 PIV “single finger capture device,” which was certified on Jan. 15.

“Including these products on the Certified Products List grants these companies the FBI’s seal of approval, which they can leverage to market their products as FBI-approved to customers in the U.S. government, elsewhere in the United States, and around the globe,” the letter reads.

“This sends a dangerous signal to potential buyers that these companies’ products are trustworthy and heightens the risk that these products will be procured by U.S. government entities or contractors despite the security risks.

“It also sends conflicting messages about U.S. policy toward companies with ties to the PRC’s military-industrial complex.”

Among the 32 Chinese companies, the lawmakers said that at least 14 of them “maintain concerning ties to the Chinese military and intelligence services.”

One such company is Beijing Hisign Technology. According to the letter, Beijing Hisign “maintains partnerships” with Chinese technology companies Huawei and Inspur, both of which are identified by the Pentagon as “Chinese military companies.”

The FBI list includes several models of Beijing Hisign’s fingerprint scanner products, with the most recent one certified in January 2022.

On its website explaining its automatic fingerprint identification system, Beijing Hisign states that it is in “compliance with international standards set by ANSI/NIST and the FBI.”

Another company cited by the lawmakers, Shenzhen Cama Biometric, states that its fingerprint recognition technology is certified by China’s Ministry of Public Security and is advertised for use in government, military, and military industrial applications, according to the letter.

Cama Biometric’s fingerprint scanner, modeled CAMA-AFM360V3, is on the FBI list and was certified in June last year.

On its product page explaining that model, Cama Biometric describes it as “FBI certified.”

Beijing Eyecool Technology, formerly known as Techshino, is another company named in the letter. The lawmakers noted that its biometric systems “now underpin the CCP’s pervasive surveillance infrastructure, including ‘Skynet,’ where Eyecool’s platforms reportedly handle over two million daily facial captures in a single city, and continue tos support PLA programs.”

PLA is an acronym for China’s military, the People’s Liberation Army.

Skynet is widely known as a tool for spying on ordinary Chinese citizens and silencing dissidents. The CCP has promoted the surveillance system as a means of fighting crime.

The FBI’s most recent certification of a product from Beijing Eyecool occurred in June 2023.

Other Chinese companies named in the letter include Chongqing Huifan Technology, Miaxis Biometrics, Shenzhen Dotu Technology, Tlink Technology, and Zhejiang Wellcom Technology.

The two lawmakers asked the FBI to “immediately review all PRC-based companies whose products are on the Certified Products List and check them against existing U.S. government sanctions, entity lists, and security determinations.”

They requested a written response from the agency addressing their concerns within 30 days. 

When contacted by The Epoch Times, the FBI said it had received the letter but declined to comment on it.