Our out-of-date laws can't stop foreign spies and saboteurs

The arrest in December of Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of technology giant Huawei, demonstrates that federal law enforcement action remains the U.S. government’s most prominent response to suspected cybercrimes by China and Russia.

Meng, now free on bail in Canada, is reportedly charged by the Justice Department with violating U.S. export controls and sanctions pertaining to Iran. But her arrest takes place within the wider geopolitical context of longstanding suspicion that Huawei and other Chinese companies are acting for Beijing’s intelligence and security services to conduct cyberespionage against us and in support of rogue regimes in Iran and North Korea.