A 1990s U.S. government law mandating that major telecom providers make their equipment compatible with court-order wiretaps resulted in backdoors inside telecommunications networks that have now created digital pathways for China to hack American phones, according to a top cryptographer.

Matt Blaze, computer scientist at Georgetown University, told lawmakers this week that 1994’s Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act made China’s Salt Typhoon hack of the telecom sector possible last year. He testified to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that new technology expanded the attack surface for hackers to target since the legislation became law.

“The job of the illegal eavesdropper has actually gotten significantly easier and to put it bluntly, something like Salt Typhoon was inevitable and will likely happen again unless significant changes are made to our infrastructure and our approach to protecting it,” said Mr. Blaze, who asserted that the use of wiretaps formerly meant the presence of a human in the loop but it no longer does and China’s Typhoon hackers have seized on the opportunity.

Innovative new companies on the cutting edge of artificial intelligence, drones, quantum computing, biotechnology and futuristic satellites are all among the outfits being invested in by In-Q-Tel — essentially a venture capital firm operating under the purview of the CIA — that announced its 800th investment this week.

“For 26 years, IQT has been a critical bridge, connecting the cutting-edge capabilities of the private sector with the ever-evolving needs of our intelligence and defense communities,” the firm, which operates as a nonprofit, said in a statement. The latest investment numbers are a marked increase from eight years ago, when IQT announced it had passed 325 investments. While many are publicized, hundreds are kept secret due to national security concerns.

Notable new investments include Cerabyte, a German company that builds ceramic-based storage systems designed to enhance data storage sustainability, and GetReal Security, a California-based firm developing anti-AI screening systems that help detect deepfakes and other deceptive applications.

In-Q-Tel says its investments in emerging technologies improve U.S. innovation in aerospace, defense and cybersecurity. IQT President and CEO Steve Bowsher told Threat Status in an exclusive video interview last year that the U.S. “needs to stay at the cutting edge of those technologies in order to remain the preeminent economic and security power.”

A key U.S. lawmaker from northern Virginia is warning that the hub of data centers established in his district is a bigger target for America’s enemies than the concentration of centers operated by the federal government in Washington. 

Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, Virginia Democrat, said during a House Oversight and Government Reform hearing this week that his district is now home to over 200 data centers — more than any other area of the U.S. and almost any other country in the world. Mr. Subramanyam, who estimated that just 10 data centers use more electrical power than all of Washington, described the situation as a “security risk” and a “huge problem.” 

“You just look at the Ukraine war, when Russia failed to hack Ukraine’s telecom networks, what did they target? They targeted the data centers,” he said. “And so Northern Virginia is becoming more of a target than Washington, D.C., itself.” Big Tech’s data centers proved critical to Ukraine’s survival, and cloud computing helped enable Ukraine’s efforts to strike back against Russia.

The U.S. is weighing an all-out economic assault on the lifeblood of Russia’s economy, its energy exports, in what sources tell Threat Status would be a dramatic, potentially high-risk move to influence the Kremlin’s decision-making and force an end to its war in Ukraine.

With strong backing from a bipartisan coalition in Congress, Mr. Trump has floated massive financial penalties against Russia’s energy sector. National Security Correspondent Ben Wolfgang takes a look inside the president’s potential plan for stiff tariffs against Russian oil exports and penalties on all imports from countries that buy it, presumably including major global players China and India.

For Mr. Trump, the economic penalties appear to be something of a last resort — a step he’ll take only if Russian President Vladimir Putin refuses to sign on to a deal halting hostilities in Ukraine. The president told NBC News this week that he is willing to target Russia’s oil because he is angry with Mr. Putin for standing in the way of a ceasefire.

Mr. Trump’s push for a “Golden Dome” missile defense shield is a “particularly appropriate update after the 42nd anniversary of President Reagan’s March 23, 1983, speech and subsequent actions that led to his Strategic Defense Initiative,” according to Henry F. Cooper and Daniel J. Gallington, both of whom held key positions relating to missile defense under Reagan.

“Today, we need much more than simple deterrence. We need a ubiquitous/universal missile/hyper/drone system of defensive capabilities and technologies that depend on new and ever-evolving technologies,” they write. “This includes space-based sensors and anti-missile (especially launch phase) interceptors, and eventually enhanced ground-, air- and space-based directed energy defenses.

“We should invite and include our allies in this entire defense force concept,” they write. “As we did during the Cold War, we should share mission responsibilities, including threat assessments and operational information, with integrated command and control.”

• April 3 — The Triumph of Fear: Domestic Surveillance and Political Repression forum, Cato Institute

• April 6-9 — Sea Air Space 2025 Conference and Exposition, Navy League of the United States

• April 7-10 — 40th Space Symposium, Space Foundation

• April 7 — Maximum Support: Operationalizing the Other Iran Policy, Foundation for Defense of Democracies

• April 10-11 — Summit on Modern Conflict and Emerging Threats, Vanderbilt University

• April 28- May 1 — RSAC 2025, RSA Conference

• April 30 —The Hill & Valley Forum, The Hill & Valley Forum