Britain is on the verge of a much-delayed and debated decision about allowing Huawei to build “non-core” components of its 5G network.

Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei made a dramatic offer to let all comers license and modify his 5G technology. Making it secure would be a Herculean task.

Enabling multi-domain command and control (MDC2) is “how the Air Force becomes the quarterback, the play-caller of the joint warfighting force,” says Acting Air Force Secretary Matt Donovan.

To protect the content of 5G transmissions, the Pentagon should accelerate development of mobile applications using end-to-end encryption. Today’s military radios or encrypted email only encrypt a message in transit. The message exists in an unencrypted form in the receiving server.

Nicholas Eftimiades, a former senior US senior intelligence officer, said the Trump Administration policy “is very surgical in its approach,” and will have only a “moderate impact” on allied countries.

The Pentagon says it can’t keep up with private tech firms using 5G. Mike Griffin says the best it can do is try and be “good customers.”

The coming network needed for autonomous vehicles, virtual reality, and the Internet of Things will also bring cybersecurity danger.

Trump’s declaration has to be translated into legal rules — by officials who don’t share his conciliatory stance.

“This is such a data-rich world that the person who can command that data first is the one who’s gonna have a real advantage.”

In a markup of the 2020 defense budget, the HASC tells the Pentagon to keep developing new tech but inform the Hill about how and where it might be used.