The Pentagon has cast a wary eye on TikTok as a potential channel for influence operations and data collection on some 150 million Americans. Image: Ascannio/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffConcerns about security risks posed by TikTok have the Pentagon’s attention. During a recent hearing of the House Armed Services subcommittee on cyber, information technologies and innovation, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy John F. Plumb called the Chinese-owned social media platform a “potential threat vector.”
Plumb, the Defense Department’s chief cyber advisor, cited Chinese ability to use TikTok as a powerful channel for influence operations and a conduit for data collection on the one-third of US adult population using it.
Army Gen. Paul M. Nakasone, commander of U.S. Cyber Command, added, “If you consider one0third of the adult population receives their news from this app, if you consider that there’s 150 million people every single day that are obviously touching this app, this provides a foreign nation a platform for information operations, a platform for surveillance, and a concern we have with regards to who controls that data.”
In his additional capacity as director of the National Security Agency and chief of the Central Security Service, Nakasone added that it is incumbent upon policymakers to continue the discussion about what should be done to mitigate any potential threat TikTok could pose.
“Chinese cyber intrusions are the most prolific in the world. PRC [People’s Republic of China] leaders believe that achieving information dominance will enable them to seize and keep the strategic initiative, disrupt our ability to mobilize, to project and sustain the joint force, and to ensure the PRC’s desired end state,” Plumb testified.
The assistant secretary also mentioned cyber threats posed by Russia, North Korea and other transnational criminal organizations.
“Together, our adversaries use cyberspace to conduct operations against the Department of Defense Information Network and the U.S. homeland. They do this to weaken our allies and partners and to undermine U.S. interests,” Plumb said.
Plumb and Nakasone appeared before the Hill panel to talk in behalf of the administration’s request for $13.5 billion for cyberspace activities.
“Operating in cyberspace today is an essential part of the department’s ability to deter aggression and ensure our nation’s security,” Plumb said.
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