WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An upcoming report on the U.S. military supply chain will show the Pentagon depends on Chinese components for some military equipment, a top Defense Department official said on Friday.
The industrial base report will show "there is a large focus on dependency on foreign countries for supply, and China figures very prominently," the Defense Department's chief buyer, Ellen Lord, told reporters in a briefing.
She did not provide further detail but said the report is currently in the hands of the White House, and will be published within a month.
When published, the report will come amid growing concerns from members of Congress and the U.S. intelligence community that Chinese telecommunications equipment is being used to spy on Americans. It is also the latest example of Pentagon efforts to deal with the military's interactions with Chinese products.
In April, the Defense Department stopped selling mobile phones and modems made by the Chinese technology companies Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp in stores on its military bases, citing potential security risks.
(Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington; editing by Jonathan Oatis)