When the House and Senate sit down next week to iron out differences in an annual must-pass defense bill, the fate of Chinese telecom ZTE may be a key wedge issue.

“Ripping out and replacing” a raft of Chinese-made telecom gear won’t be easy, a group of American companies protested to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC). A collective of trade groups representing smaller American service providers joined with prominent Chinese telecom Huawei in slamming the FCC’s proposal to ban American telecoms from using federal subsidies to purchase Chinese-made equipment.

On Monday, the Trump administration moved to block a large Chinese telecommunications company from entering the U.S. market, recommending that its application be rejected on national security grounds.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai wants to bar U.S. telecommunications providers from buying equipment and services he says could give foreign-government hackers a foothold into the supply chain.

Cybersecurity researchers warned us that it would happen. Earlier this year, hackers were able to remotely pilfer German bank accounts by taking advantage of vulnerabilities evident in an important yet outdated communications protocol known as Signaling System 7, or SS7.

The inspector general's office in the Department of Homeland Security is warning that identity thieves and fraudsters are spoofing caller ID systems to make it look as if victims are being called from the IG's anonymous tipline.