Wenstrup, LaHood seek protections for USA Olympics team competing in China

Amid reports that the Chinese government has offered to give U.S. Olympic athletes SIM cards to access the internet and is requiring them to upload personal data to an app owned by a Chinese state-owned company, U.S. Reps. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) and Darin LaHood (R-IL) seek enhanced protections from the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) during the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.

“None of us should be naïve to the fact that any overture from the Chinese government to grant Olympic athletes and participants uncensored access to the internet comes with risk,” the members wrote in a bipartisan Jan. 20 letter sent to USOPC leadership. “If China intends to open its Great Firewall only through special SIM cards, which would be inserted to an individual’s own device and purchased through the Beijing 2022 Rate Card program, we believe our athletes and their personal information and data could be vulnerable to the Chinese government’s efforts to maliciously access and exploit their data.”

The lawmakers, who serve on the U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, urged USOPC leaders to take additional steps to ensure the data privacy and security of American athletes competing during the upcoming Olympics, for which the U.S. has issued a diplomatic boycott.

“When taking into account the CCP’s [Chinese Communist Party’s] well-known record on data gathering, human rights and authoritarian regulation of their own citizens, we urge the USOPC to take every necessary precaution and opportunity to educate our athletes before they leave for the Olympics,” wrote the lawmakers. 

The members also recommended that the USOPC consider requiring the use of or at least providing “burner phones” for all U.S. team members and to provide formal training about the risks that exist and steps they can take to protect themselves, according to their letter, which warned that the CCP’s efforts could “give our athletes a false sense of security.”

Rep. Wenstrup, Rep. LaHood, and their colleagues, who included U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), pointed out that the Chinese government continues to disregard human rights, and the CCP has grown more overt with its geopolitical ambitions. 

“As Team USA prepares for the coming Winter Games, we are pleased to see that the USOPC has urged American athletes to leave their personal electronic devices at home, following the example set by the Dutch Olympic Committee, the British Olympic Association, the Australian Olympic Committee, and others,” they wrote. “We are proud of our U.S. athletes for their hard-earned accomplishments, but we are also concerned about their well-being while in China.”