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Between U.S. and China, a trust gap
NSA warned AT&T against using Chinese firm for fear of spying
BY JOHN POMFRET
shenzhen, china — Late last year, as AT&T was preparing to buy hundreds of millions of dol- lars ofequipmentfor itsnext-gen- eration phone system, one of its senior executives received a call from the National Security Agen- cy.
The subject was AT&T’s desire
to give a burgeoning Chinese telecommunications firm a con- tract to supply some of the equip- ment. The message from the NSA — the nation’s electronic spying agency — was simple: If AT&T wanted to continue its lucrative business with the U.S. govern- ment, it had better select a suppli- er other than Huawei, said sever- al people with knowledge of the call. In February, AT&T an- nounced that it would buy the equipment it needed from Swed- ish-owned Ericsson and Paris- based Alcatel-Lucent. The NSA called AT&T because
of fears that China’s intelligence agencies could insert digital trap- doors into Huawei’s technology that would serve as secret listen- ing posts in the U.S. communica- tions network, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to maintain their rela- tionship with the companies. Huawei, the NSA and AT&T de- clined to discuss the agency’s intervention in the deal. Huawei’s experience illumi-
nates the hole at the center of the United States’ relations with Chi- na: the absence of strategic trust. Although President Obama has said the United States welcomes China’s rise, significant parts of the U.S. government view China as a threat to national security. The trust gap is a major obsta-
cle forChinaandits companies as they seek to enter more sensitive parts of the globaleconomy. But if the aborted AT&T deal was a
china continued onA10
l IMF chief: Currency can’t be “weapon.” A13
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2010 ‘They are counting on your silence’
STATES TEAM UP FOR INQUIRY
Some seek to freeze
the process nationwide BY JIA LYNN YANG
AND ARIANA EUNJUNG CHA President Obama stepped into
a growing political furor over the nation’s troubled foreclosure sys- tem Thursday by vetoing a little- known bill that critics say would havemade it easier to evict home- owners who missed their pay- ments. The decision to block the mea-
NIKKI KAHN/THE WASHINGTON POST
MarylandGov.Martin O’Malley greets President Obama at a rally at Bowie StateUniversity. Although some in the crowd were drawnto the event more by Obama than O’Malley, the president urged voters, particularly young ones, to cast ballots next month to keep the Democratic governor in office. Story, B1.
Text, tweet, win? Not so fast. On campaign trail, some find social media isn’t a surefire vote-getter
BY SHAILAGH MURRAY AND JOHNWAGNER
Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. has lots of
“friends” — 58,610 of them, to be exact. That’s the number of people
who support the former Mary- land governor on Facebook, and as he campaigns across the state trying to get his old job back, he mentions his online palswhenev- er he can. Ehrlich’s Democratic opponent, Gov. Martin O’Malley, canclaimamere 24,516Facebook supporters. “That proves I’m friendlier,” Ehrlich told the crowd at a corn roast Saturday in Baltimore County, and “more popular.” No doubt, if the election were
held on Facebook, Ehrlich would be the runaway winner. But in Maryland, where the election ac- tually will be held, aWashington Post poll has him trailing O’Mal-
Howard opens the door (a tad) to overnight guests
BY JENNA JOHNSON Howard University is experi-
menting this fall with something thatmany universities did at least a generation ago: allowing under- graduates to stay overnight in eachother’sdormrooms. To study, of course. Onmostof campus, friendsand
lovers alike stillmust depart each other’s rooms at midnight on school nights, or 2 a.m. on week- ends. But in a bowto the requests of student government leaders, Howard officials have agreed to relax such restrictions in one up- perclassmandormitory. In the week since Howard be-
gan allowing overnight guests in Howard Plaza Towers, West — a modern brick high-rise on the edge of the Northwest Washing-
ton campus — university officials have reportednoincrease inprob- lems. Yet students have reacted to the pilot program not so much withcheersbutwithexasperation. “Itshouldhavehappenedalong
time ago. I’m surprised it didn’t happena long time ago,” said Safi- yaDeFour,20,ajuniormajoringin sports medicine who lives in the dorm. Although the sexual revolution
swept away or watered down sleepover rules at many schools, some institutions held firm. Chief among them were historically black colleges and religious insti- tutions.Historically black schools have traditionally operated as something like extended families, with officials adopting more of a parental role on campus than
howard continued onA11 Delving deep into
hearts of Texans Can Democrats spring an upset in the Texas governor’s race? Ex-Houston mayor Bill White is taking aim at Rick Perry. A3
Setting a high bar
for November Obama adviser David Plouffe: For the GOP, anything short of a midterms sweep would be “colossal failure.” A4
ley by 11 points. Ehrlich is one of many politi-
cians this year who have discov- ered the limits of online friend- ship. President Obama’s 2008 cam-
paign showed how the Internet could be used to organize grass- roots supporters into a nation- wide political force. Now House,
A man of winning words
Senate and gubernatorial candi- dates across the country are find- ing it isn’t so easy to duplicate Obama’s results. To show that they “get” the
Web, too, politicians are ventur- ing online to raise money, orga- nize volunteers and communi- cate directly with supporters. They rack up Facebook friends, tweet their every thought and action (or assign some poor young staffer to do it for them), shell out for Obama-style iPhone applications andwait for theWeb to work itsmagic. A lot of themhave been disap-
pointed to find that all that motion doesn’t necessarily trans- late into votes. “So you have 50,000 Facebook
fans — what the heck are you going to do with them?” said Vincent Harris, a GOP new-me- dia consultant for numerous
social media continued onA4
Senate inquiry finds that Afghan hires are linked to Taliban
BY KAREN DEYOUNG TheU.S. military has only min-
imal knowledge of—and exercis- es virtually no control over—the thousands of Afghans it indirect- ly pays to guard its installations, including “warlords and strong- men linked to murder, kidnap- ping, bribery” and to the Taliban, Senate investigators said in a blis- tering report released Thursday. The bipartisan report, com-
MARIO TAMA/GETTY IMAGES
Peruvian writerMarioVargas Llosa, right, is congratulated by former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo after winning theNobel Prize in literature. The political activist, 74, has written more than 30 novels, plays and essays, including “The GreenHouse” and “Conversation in the Cathedral.” Story, C1. The Peace Prize winner will be announced Friday morning. Check
washingtonpost.com.
INSIDE
WEEKEND1 A wealth of culture
A guide to Arlington’s new arts mecca: Artisphere.
POLITICS& THENATION Alaska reforms?
Native corporations would lose contracting privileges under a bill soon to be introduced in Congress. A6
BUSINESS NEWS.........A12-15 CLASSIFIEDS......................E1 COMICS..........................C6-7
EDITORIALS/LETTERS.....A18 FED PAGE.........................A16 GOING OUT GUIDE.WEEKEND
LOTTERIES.........................B4 MOVIES..................WEEKEND OBITUARIES....................B6-7
STYLE ‘Housewives’: It’s
been real. Or not. Bravo is finally finished horsing around with the Salahis, the city and . . . reality. C1
OPINIONS
Dinesh D’Souza: Why I believe that Obama is an anti-colonialist. A17 David Ignatius: Our Af-Pak mission is looking increasingly bleak. A19
TELEVISION.......................C4 WEATHER..........................B8 WORLD NEWS...............A8-10
SPORTS Capitals are all business
As the season opens, we look at the Caps and their defining player, Alex Ovechkin. D1
Also today: 1Mike Wise’s column. 1Breaking down Ovechkin’s shot. 1The team, player by player.
6 Printed using recycled fiber
Capitals players talk about breaking into the NHL, at
washingtonpost.com/capitals.
DAILY CODE Details, B2
1 4 6 9
piled after a year-long investiga- tion, notes that the military has recently launched itsowninvesti- gations of the situation and has taken some steps to address it. In one of the most significant steps, Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, has issued newcon- tractor guidelines. Still, the Senate investigation
documents a failure to properly vet, train and supervise Afghan security subcontractors, hired by
sure,whichCongresspassedwith- out debate, came as members of the president’s own party have urged the administration and fed- eral regulators to more actively address the crisis over flawed foreclosures. Meanwhile, attorneys general
from about 40 states vowed to band together to investigate re- ports of fraudulent documents and of banks seizing property withouthavingclearownershipof themortgages. At least 10 states — with Iowa
and Delaware being the latest — are seeking to expand a voluntary freeze on foreclosures by some of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders to include more compa- nies and more regions. And calls have increased for a nationwide moratorium — a move that could deal a blow to the earnings of big banks and grind to a halt the sale ofmillionsofpropertiesinforeclo- sure. In the middle of a heated elec-
tion season, a growing number of politicians have been eager to weigh in on thematter—and are
taking pains to rebuke the finan- cial institutions at the core of the controversy. Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.),
chairmanof theHouseCommittee onOversightandGovernmentRe- form, called Thursday for the na- tional freeze, and SenateMajority Leader Harry M. Reid (D) de- mandedthatbiglenders stopfore- closures in his home state of Ne- vada. Thisweek,House SpeakerNan-
cy Pelosi (Calif.) and other key Democrats called for federal in- vestigations of allegations that mortgage lenders improperly evictedpeople fromtheirhomes. But Democrats were trying to
veto continued onA11
U.S. contract failures said to aid the enemy
U.S.andother international firms under multimillion-dollar mili- tary contracts. That failure has cost American
lives, undermined the U.S. mis- sion and the Afghan government, and “helped play into the hands of the enemy,” said Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Commit- tee.
Some of the Afghan security
subcontractors, Levin told re- porters Thursday, are “creating the very threat they are hired to combat.” Committee staff reviewed
more than 125 Defense Depart- ment security contracts dated be- tween 2007 and 2009 and provid- ed a detailed account of two in which subcontractors had direct and well-known ties to the Tali- ban. The report recounts an in- stance in which the military raid- ed a Taliban meeting being held at the house of a subcontractor. It also notes instances in which security subcontractors were be-
contractors continued onA9
l Pakistan to probe execution video. A9
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Obama vetoes foreclosure bill as anger grows
FORECLOSURE SYSTEMINCHAOS
Local firm in eye of storm
Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, a small company in Reston Town Center whose motto is “Process loans, not paperwork,” finds itself at the heart of the country’s foreclosure crisis. A12
1GRAPHIC: How the electronic system changed the rules for banks, leaving the ownership of thousands of mortgages in question. A12
The Washington Post Year 133, No. 307
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