Senators urge WMATA to guard against spying in new subway cars

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Washington Post reports that U.S. senators representing the region want the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) to take stronger steps to guard against the risk that buying subway cars from China would allow Beijing to use the vehicles to conduct electronic spying on the nation’s capital.

In a letter to WMATA GM Paul J. Wiedefeld, the lawmakers say the transit agency should get approval from the Defense Department, Department of Homeland Security, and Transportation Department before awarding the contract for its next-generation railcars to a foreign adversary.

The letter also added pressure on WMATA to take more extensive precautions than it has done so far in light of the possibility that the state-owned China Railway Rolling Stock Corp. could win the deal to build up to 800 of Metro’s 8000-series railcars. For the full story, click here.