CES 2023: Tech Competition with China All About National Security: Sen. Warner

LAS VEGAS, January 6, 2021 – Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., on Friday called for increased federal investments in national security–related technologies as well as more rigorous cybersecurity standards.

Addressing the Consumer Electronics Show with colleagues Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., and Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., Warner called U.S.–China technological competition, “the issue of our time.” Warner touted his efforts to pass the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, which invested heavily in domestic semiconductor manufacturing, and advocated new federal investments in artificial intelligence, quantum computing, advanced engineering, and synthetic biology.

“This technology competition is all about national security,” Warner said. “God forbid we end up in a conflict…it will be over before it starts.”

The United States ought to counteract Chinese efforts to dominate international standards-setting bodies for the technology sector, Warner said, and he further endorsed domestic workforce-building initiatives as well as immigration reform to attract tech-sector workers from abroad.

The senators advocated strengthening cybersecurity protocols in both private and public sector. “The area of cyber that I’m particularly focused on going forward healthcare,” Warner said. “I see…all the new innovation in healthcare, but unless and until we can make sure that cyber protections are actually built [into] healthcare systems rather than bolted on, I don’t think we’re going to get this right.”