Chinese Trail on American Highways: Officials Want Control

In late August, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration issued an advisory regarding solar-powered highway infrastructure . This applies to devices used to power things like road signs, traffic cameras, weather stations, solar-powered visitor areas and storage facilities, and electric vehicle chargers. Officials suggest checking these facilities for unauthorized devices—such as radios—hidden in batteries and inverters .

Reuters, reporting on the matter, obtained a security memo stating that "undocumented" cellular radios were found in "some foreign power converters and BMSs" (battery management systems). The memo doesn't specify where the products containing the undocumented devices originated, but notes that many of the converters are manufactured in China .

According to Reuters, there is growing concern among U.S. officials that these devices, along with the electronic systems that manage their batteries, could be equipped with communication components that could allow them to be remotely manipulated at Beijing's behest . The memo cited risks such as simultaneous failures and covert data theft .

The agency notes that similar concerns were raised by U.S. energy officials in May after "unauthorized communication devices" were found in some Chinese inverters and batteries . It also notes that the Green Power Denmark group also reported in May the unexplained presence of electronic components in equipment imported for the Danish power grid.

In response to these reports, the Chinese embassy in Washington said it opposes "the distortion of facts and the denigration of China's achievements in the field of energy infrastructure."