Washington, D.C. – Congressman Darin LaHood (IL-16), Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) Subcommittee on NSA & Cyber and House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) member, led his Intelligence Committee Republican colleagues to request a briefing from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) on the growing national security and personal data concerns surrounding the CCP-linked entity Temu and their parent company, Pinduoduo (PDD).
In a letter signed by every HPSCI Republican to FBI Director Christopher Wray and SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, the members highlight the connections PDD, which is listed on the NASDAQ, has to possible trade, slave labor, and national security concerns.
The HPSCI Republican members write in the letter:
(U) We are concerned about the protection of Americans data. Analogous to Congress’ action on TikTok, the relationship between the Chinese Communist Party, Chinese national security laws, and Americans data must be understood. We have concerns that the CCP has undertaken yet another attempt to exploit the democracy, free market principles, and the personal and economic data of the United States.
(U) Given the well-detailed concerns, we request a joint briefing from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to the Committee on:
- If the FBI has provided any intelligence to the SEC regarding any of the issues raised in the above statements or accompanying articles?
- Has the SEC requested intelligence in learning more about PDD and Temu?
- If so, what assistance has the FBI provided?
- Have any other intelligence agencies provided assistance?
- If not, why not?
- Does the SEC regularly receive intelligence products or make requests to the Intelligence Community to inform their work?
- What laws and policies stand in the way of greater information sharing between the Intelligence Community and the SEC?
- Providing examples where the FBI has worked with the SEC on similar issues, recently including:
- How the coordination began?
- What the outcome of the coordination was?
- Who the entities involved were?
The full letter can be read HERE.
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