Military Intelligence denies: “We did not buy any routers from Huawei”

According to Robberecht, two things have been taken out of context. “First of all we find – like state security – that the current development of Chinese-owned technology in relation to Chinese intelligence services are areas of concern. We have to work differently to make sure that our data does not end up in the street. This is the counterintelligence framework and we agree with it. “.

On the other hand, the December cyber incident also played a role, according to Ruprecht (Defense came under cyber attack in December, editor.† “One of the consequences of this cyber incident for defense personnel was public internet access. When the Russians invaded Ukraine on February 24, my service needed internet access so they could perform the analyses. On February 25, we bought five devices — not from Huawei — so they could from accessing the public network so that they can do their job.”

“On Monday, February 28, we replaced these devices with devices from Defense stock — also not from Huawei — so they could continue their work. This was done to accommodate our analytical work. So that my services could properly provide their products to the government.”

According to Ruprecht, all purchases from the intelligence service pass through a parliamentary commission behind closed doors. “It explains which brands we think we’ll use, so that the security aspect of secured and categorized networks or routers is in order.”

Our information was also provided to the Minister of Defense and the Minister of Defense, who declined to answer our questions.

The minister describes Huawei as very dangerous. But our army’s WiFi: No problem †