“China’s global enterprises are a deliberate tangle. There are all kinds of offshoots and joint ventures, and they had years to make it impossible to sort out who owns what. But I first came across Seven Winds about a year ago. Back when Leland Sinclair bullhorned that trans-Pacific cable and cloud-computing contract between Olympia, CloudCable and two or three of our intel agencies. I never liked the deal. From a national security standpoint, I thought it was asking for trouble for top secret information to flow though the same digital pipelines as internet shopping and movie streaming. I also thought it opened up too many potential civil liberties abuses. The Olympia Plus e-services and shopping package has almost two hundred million subscribers in our country. Another hundred million worldwide. That’s a lot of big data. And big data’s like candy to our spooks. I don’t expect them to be able to resist it. Not over time. It’s too tempting. Eventually someone will reach deep into the bowl and binge.”
“Which is why digital things make me puke,” Harris said. His foot was still going up and down. “For the record, Prof, I know all this. I’m a fan of your podcast. I was a captive audience in the hospital.”
Michaels turned to him and smiled.
“What’re you gawping at?”
“Believe it or not, I missed you, Leo.”
“I’m touched,” Harris said. “Seven Winds. Remember?”
Michaels nodded. “After the deal was announced, I thought I’d look into its details. Or whatever details were out there. A project that enormous isn’t just about its signatories. There are always other companies providing support and materials. One of CloudCable’s loudest boasts—and top selling points—is that its submarine line is made entirely in the United States. Which is true as far as it goes. But how about the joint boxes and splitters used to repair damaged segments or splice them into other undersea networks? The couplers that connect it to the repeaters? The accessories. Any idea?”
Leo shook his head. “I figure I can always count on you for it, Prof.”
Michaels smiled a little.
“There are several foreign companies that produce those items. CloudCable uses a few for different components. But its biggest supplier is a Chinese firm called Jinggu Technologies,” he said. “Jinggu manufactures the steel conduits that house fiber lines when they make landfall. They’re essential to network infrastructure and can run for miles.” He paused. “Now, follow this. Jinggu is owned by a businessman and government official named Deng Yannan. His wife, Deng Jing, has a brother, Zhou Bohai. Those three names—Deng Yannan, Deng Jing, Zhou Bohai—appear on the filings of at least thirty companies over the past quarter century. Everything from electronics to energy to rare earth minerals.” He paused. “Some are anonymous shells, and a few were even doing business in the United States or our allied countries before the congressional ban.”