U.K. surveillance laws drew scrutiny from House Judiciary Committee Chairman , R-Ohio June 5 amid warnings they could expose communications of officials and American citizens, according to reports.
The concern centered on the U.K.’s use of the Investigatory Powers Act, which critics say could make U.S. companies weaken encryption or create “backdoors” weaken encryption or create “backdoors” while preventing firms from disclosing requests without U.K. government approval.
Critics have argued this could undermine , create vulnerabilities and limit congressional oversight with one former intelligence official warning of a “standing invitation to Beijing.”
“We have already seen how this ends,” former Department of Defense official Andrew Badger told Fox News Digital.
“There are legitimate here, and those have been well aired. The less examined issue is national security,” Badger said.
“A backdoor compelled by one ally becomes a standing invitation to Beijing, Moscow and Tehran so once one government can quietly compel access, others will demand the same, and a one-off concession hardens into a permanent vulnerability,” he warned.
According to the Telegraph, a June 5 letter sent by Jordan to U.K. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, showed the Trump ally had called for a review.
The report said Mahmood’s decision had been to deny a U.S. company permission to speak with Congress about an alleged encryption backdoor notice.
Jordan was also said to have warned that a lack of bilateral coordination raised concerns about the “trust and effective partnership between our two countries.”
“Five Eyes works because every partner trusts the others not to weaken the systems they all depend on,” Badger, co-author of “The Great Heist: China’s Epic Campaign to Steal America’s Secrets,” said.
“If Washington also concludes that U.K. surveillance powers could inadvertently expose Americans and American officials to espionage, it puts real strain on the relationship and makes
