Two Democratic senators have formally asked the U.S. Commerce Department to explain why it removed senior officials who led an office that had effectively barred nearly all Chinese passenger vehicles from entering the United States on national security grounds.
In a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, the senators questioned recent personnel changes that included the departure of an executive director and her deputy from the department's Information and Communications Technology and Services office. That office, created in 2022, was charged with investigating threats to technology and supply chains posed by foreign adversaries.
The senators said the decision to diminish the office's leadership - and the apparent push to remove its senior staff - sends a clear signal that standing up to China may not be a priority for the administration. They argued the loss of those officials strips the office of leadership and institutional expertise needed to defend the United States against escalating national security and cyber threats.
According to the senators' letter, the office had been responsible for bolstering U.S. cyber defenses in response to incidents such as the Salt Typhoon cyberattacks. The letter also notes that Elizabeth Cannon in January agreed to resign as executive director for the Information and Communications Technology and Services office.
Requests for comment to Cannon and to the Commerce Department did not receive immediate responses.
The senators highlighted other recent shifts in Commerce Department enforcement. Earlier reporting indicated the department withdrew a plan to impose restrictions on Chinese-made drones that had been proposed to address national security concerns. That same coverage said plans to introduce similar curbs on heavy trucks and buses were quietly shelved.
Lawmakers warned that the work of this office, together with other probes into Chinese-linked issues in the telecom sector, appears to have stalled under Secretary Lutnick's leadership. The letter raised concern that ongoing actions against state-owned Chinese telecommunications firms China Telecom and China Unicom may be on hold. The senators pointed out that the continued presence of those companies in the United States could leave users' personal data exposed to theft or disruption.
The senators' inquiries seek an explanation for the personnel changes and an outline of the department's current approach to addressing foreign intelligence and cyber threats within technology supply chains and communications infrastructure. They asked that the department clarify the status of the office's initiatives and the rationale for any changes that affect national security-related investigations and restrictions.