Commerce Sec’y: We Take Hacking Seriously, But I’ll Still Visit China Despite It, We Have to Lay Out Concerns over Tech

On Friday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said she still plans to visit China despite their reported hacking of her and U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns but the trip “doesn’t mean that we excuse any kind of hacking or infringement on our security. What it means is that we need to be ferocious in the way we protect American national security, but also de-escalate tension where we can and look for ways that we can work together.” And that laying out “our really serious concerns about the way they’re targeting U.S. tech companies” is one objective for the trip.

Raimondo said, “I’m not in a position to confirm that my own personal email was hacked, but obviously, there’s been a hack at the Department of Commerce, which is very significant, very complex. The FBI, Department of Justice, and Homeland Security are actively investigating this, so I’m not going to comment further, since we’re in the middle of an active investigation, except to say we take it incredibly seriously. I do plan to travel later this year. We’re planning the trip now, which doesn’t mean that we excuse any kind of hacking or infringement on our security. What it means is that we need to be ferocious in the way we protect American national security, but also de-escalate tension where we can and look for ways that we can work together.”

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