FBI, CIA, and US National Security Agency officials have advised Americans not to use the Huawei and ZTE smartphones because they believe they are a security threat.

According to CNN, the heads of the three agencies have expressed their views during the hearings before the Senate Special Intelligence Committee and the House of Representatives of the US Congress.

During one of the sessions, Republican Senator Tom Cotton has proposed to FBI head Christopher Ray, CIA Director Michael Pompeo and NSA Director Daniel Coates to raise their hand if they feel advisable for their compatriots to use the products of the aforementioned Chinese companies. None of them, however, responded to this request.

In Ray's view, admission of companies "subordinate to foreign governments" in US telecom infrastructure is too risky. "This creates a prerequisite for malicious modifications or theft of information and creates conditions for secret espionage," Ray told the committee.

Earlier, US telecom giant Verizon Communications declined to sell Huawei smartphones. According to Bloomberg, the company's decision was taken under pressure from the US government, which suspects the manufacturer in cooperation with the Chinese intelligence services, according to security officials, smartphone companies can install programs that help unlawful tracking. Prior to this, AT & T took a similar decision for the same reason.