National Security: Trump’s Claim To Sprint’s 5,000 Jobs Deal Is Beginning Of The End

Since President-elect Trump’s announcement about telecommunications giant Sprint bringing 5,000 jobs back to the United States, it has been passed off as part of Donald Trump’s campaign promise to bring jobs back to America.

Trump made the announcement to reporters from his Mar-a-lago resort, where he acknowledged that a Japanese billionaire promised to spend $50 billion dollars creating jobs in the U.S.

A spokeswoman for SoftBank – which owns Sprint – told Politico that the 5,000 jobs the company was bringing back to the states, was already part of a plan to bring 50,000 jobs announced earlier in the year.

In Trump’s boisterous style, he claimed that these companies were returning to the U.S. because of “spirit,” “hope,” and “what is happening,” which is clearly him taking credit. This assessment was further confirmed when he was pushed to answer why SoftBank are bringing back jobs, he stated that it was because of him.

Trump’s Credit For Sprint’s 5,000 Jobs Deal Is Acceptable

Not only does the article point to why Trump appropriately takes credit for the claim but the similarities between him and billionaire CEO for SoftBank, Masayoshi Son.

It needs to be pointed out that over the last few weeks, the transition team for both administrations have taken shots at each other. Prior to this, Trump has been critical of the Obama administration for not doing enough to create jobs, but mostly for imposing regulation on businesses, which he promises to put an end to. This fits the Republican Party narrative who feel that regulations stunt job growth.

Regulation: Death By 5,000 Cuts For Sprint Jobs Deal

The question now is, how far will this new Republican power go to kill regulation? It’s safe to assume that with an unhinged, offensive, stubborn, macho-man President-elect – along with a cabinet of unsavory characters – that there are no limits as to how far they might go.

Already, the Trump team is blowing off public concerns over his conflict of interests along with those of national security of the Russian hacks, which bring us around to Trump and SoftBank.

In 2013, news of a SoftBank-Sprint merger under the Obama administration was viewed by the U.S. government as a potential national security threat. According to Reuters, American company Dish Network tried to aggressively out bid rival companies, and alert the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) of their security concerns.

The article also describes the security agreement between the government and Softbank’s relationship with manufacturers.

As part of the deal with CFIUS, sources previously told Reuters that SoftBank had also agreed to remove equipment made by China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd from Sprint and Clearwire Corp’s networks if the deal was completed by the end of 2016.”

Weakening U.S. Defenses For Foreign Attack On The Mobile Market

Paul Gallant, a telecom policy analyst at Guggenheim Partners argued that national security should not be a concern when dealing with a company from a friendly international ally such as Japan. At the same time, Chinese electronics company Huawei was also part of the same bidding war over Sprint. A company that has specifically been targeted by the government for the same security concerns.

An article by the Wall Street Journal specifically talks about Son’s failure to merge T-Mobile with Sprint a few years ago, due to regulation hurdles and how it’s likely — if it hasn’t already — to become a topic of conversation.

One article by The Verge says that in 2014 when the merger was under review by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ), Sprint wanted to convince them to have open minds about the deal. But both organizations under Tom Wheeler (FCC) and Loretta Lynch (DOJ) believe they must maintain a four-carrier system in order for the mobile market to remain competitive. Currently, they are the only ones who stand in the way of monopoly.

Trump Hates Technology, Loves Making Money

After Sprint abandoned the merger, the Wall Street Journal published an article that explains the complicated relationship between the government and T-Mobile, and why the deal failed.

There are reasons for concern now that Trump will be replacing Lynch with U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions. To add, Tom Wheeler will be resigning from the FCC on Inauguration Day, which many say is the first step to killing net neutrality. Of the three names to head the FCC, Mark Jamison is a former Sprint lobbyist. Even more concerning is the possibility that Trump’s appointments, along with his presidency, will eat away at the regulations that will weaken America’s national security.

Take the matter of the Russian hacks, where the Trump team continues to work overtime in planting the seeds of doubt every time President Obama’s Russian sanctions are mentioned. Even departments trusted with investigating the hacks declaring that Russia was involved are dismissed by the Trump team. Not to mention that Republicans show no interest in aggressively following up. With their anticipation to undo everything President Obama ever did, it isn’t unrealistic to think that those sanctions will go too.

Finally, even Trump’s “hardline” on China appears to be mistaken for pragmatism because as a “businessman,” he would likely want to negotiate with a company like Huawei and weaken regulations against them for more flexibility. Never-mind the monopolization of foreign corporations like SoftBank, or the end of net neutrality. The possibility that Trump would compromise the mobile market by letting international adversaries come in, selling products designed for cyber espionage, becomes very real.

At the rate and vigor the President-elect operates to deflect, attack, and persuade or confuse the opposition, it’s believable that Trump will “backdoor” our cyber-vulnerabilities.

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