Cybersecurity Policy Report, Huawei Code in White House App Raises ‘Grave Concerns,’ Rep. Khanna Says, (Jul 10, 2026)
Organizations Mentioned:BASF Colors & Effects | Office of the President
The official White House mobile app released in March and installed on phones used by federal employees reportedly contains code from Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. that poses a cybersecurity and privacy risk, according to Rep. Ro Khanna (D., Calif.), ranking member of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.
In a letter sent yesterday to White House technology officials, Rep. Khanna expressed “grave concern” that the app’s connection to Huawei could enable the Chinese government to collect sensitive U.S. data. The “potential presence” of a Huawei software development kit (SDK) within the app’s code means “unsuspecting Americans may potentially be downloading an app that in fact exposes their personal data to collection by Chinese intelligence services,” he said.
“On a bipartisan basis, Congress and the Executive Branch have made clear that Huawei represents one of the most significant risks of enabling China’s intelligence collection against American citizens. Huawei was placed on the Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security Entity List in 2019 and the Federal Communications Commission’s Covered List in 2021,” he noted.
The app’s use of the Huawei SDK is a “dangerous lapse in U.S. national security policy,” Rep. Khanna said. “These concerns are intensified by the fact that over 700,000 Americans downloaded the app in just its first week of availability and the fact the app is apparently being pre-installed on federal devices across the Executive Branch.”
“The United States, under administrations of both parties, has assembled an international coalition to encourage countries to exclude Huawei technologies from their networks due to their serious security concerns. And yet, the same Administration now operates a consumer-facing mobile application bearing the presidential seal that may potentially actively interact with Huawei’s servers. This is unacceptable,” he said.
“Alarmingly, the app also has been reported to embed six widgets from Elfsight, a Russia-founded company, each of which reportedly executes live JavaScript from Elfsight’s external servers in real time. This architecture raises concerns that a Russia-linked entity could potentially inject arbitrary malicious code into the White House application at any moment, with no review or approval from any U.S. government authority,” he added.
“This additional supply chain vulnerability appears to be yet another breach of trust from the Office of the President of the United States in terms of creating opportunities for foreign governments to potentially access to Americans’ personal data,” he said.
Rep. Khanna’s letter to Ethan Klein, the White House chief technology officer, and Gregory Barbaccia, the federal chief information officer, sets an Aug. 1 deadline for the officials to respond to questions about the app.
“Even more important than your timely response to these questions, however, is your immediate action to suspend this app from distribution until, at a minimum, the American people are assured that its cybersecurity and data privacy concerns are fully addressed,” he said. “The White House should not be violating Americans’ data privacy, and it certainly should not expose them to potential intelligence collection by foreign governments.”
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