Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, discusses the report that Chinese hackers infiltrated Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s computer on ‘The Ingraham Angle.’
U.K. surveillance laws drew scrutiny from House Judiciary Committee ChairmanJim Jordan, R-Ohio June 5 amid warnings they could expose communications of officials. American citizens, according toreports.
The concern centered on the U.K.'s use ofsecret Technical Capability Notices underthe 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 undermineprivacy, create vulnerabilities. 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 officialAndrew Badgertold Fox News Digital.
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Rep. Jim Jordan said Republicans are "the party of common sense,". Democrats are "the party that takes these crazy positions."(Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
"There are legitimateprivacy concernshere, 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. 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 theTelegraph, 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. 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. American officials to espionage, it puts real strain on the relationship and makes future cooperation on intelligence and cyber harder to sustain."
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The Thames House headquarters of MI5 in London on Nov. 18, 2025. Britain's domestic security service has warned of growing state-backed threats. including more than 20 Iran-backed plots uncovered in the UK, as lawmakers consider new legislation targeting foreign state-linked groups.(Betty Laura Zapata/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
On the encryption issue. Badger noted that mainstream encrypted platforms now function as "de facto infrastructure for sensitive communication well beyond the consumer market."
"Any access point built into them becomes a permanent target. It is not a private key the requesting government gets to keep to itself," he said.
U.S. and British cyber officials have also repeatedly warned that an axis of hostile states — includingRussia, China. Iran — poses threats to Western security and infrastructure.
As previously reported byFox News Digital. cyberespionage by groups such as Salt Typhoon, linked to China, has carried out operations targeting sensitive communications.
"China is actively running one of the largest state-backed cyberespionage operations ever uncovered. TheSalt Typhoon campaign has targetedhundreds of organizations across roughly 80 countries and, through those intrusions, gained access to sensitive communications. networks used by senior Western officials," Badger warned.
"Chinese statehackersdidn't defeat encryption. They walked straight through the lawful-intercept systems telecom providers had built, reaching the communications of senior officials. even information about surveillance targets."
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The flag of China is flown behind a pair of surveillance cameras outside the Central Government Offices.(Roy Liu/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Reports also surfaced that U.K. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper used aburner phoneduring a recent trip to Beijing and raising further concerns about state-sponsored espionage.
Badger noted that the episode reflects a broader pattern of Chinese targeting of British democratic institutions, including the "hacking of senior Downing Streetofficials' phones. an Electoral Commission breach that exposed the data of roughly 40 million voters," he said.
"The telling thing is that no one issues burner phones for a trip toSwedenor Germany," he said.
"The precaution is itself an admission of the threat environment. The working assumption — correctly — is that anything digital taken into China should be treated as potentially compromised."
The systemic vulnerability also highlights a fundamental contradiction in Western diplomatic strategy, according to Badger.
"This case perfectly underscores the contradiction at the heart of the U.K. Labour government's China policy: chasing positive economic relations. expanded trade with Beijing on one hand, while being forced to take elaborate precautions against a state whose core interests remain fundamentally at odds with its own on the other," Badger said.
"You can't simultaneously treat China as a trusted economic partner and a hostile intelligence threat. It's a fundamental contradiction. The need to use burner phones symbolically underscore this."
Emma Bussey is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital. Before joining Fox, she worked at The Telegraph with the U.S. overnight team, across desks including foreign, politics, news, sport and culture.
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