From 2012:

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): the black helicopters will be dropping microchip infested toasters on us (April 8, 2012)

[….]

….Question: …It’s an honor to talk to you. Uh, my concern, one of the concerns, is China. We’re buying military parts for our military from China. We’re buying military parts that do not work. We have closed factories in this country and that’s moved one of the big companies that we’re buying, [inaudible] countries that we’re buying from. [inaudible] We’re buying this stuff, we’re putting it in planes, we’re putting it in our material and it does not work. And they [inaudible].

There are a lot of people in this country that are getting fed up with this. I mean, fed up [inaudible] [Representative Hartzler: “Right.”] And something had better be done. I’m not threatening anybody. What I’m saying is something, I, I know, I follow this, and I know, I know what, I believe I know what I’m talking about.

There’s a line in this country. And I’m on one side of that line, a lot of people are. And there are people [inaudible] on the other side. I don’t know what’s gonna happen. If things don’t change it’s not going to be good. It’s going to be bad. I really believe that.

Representative Vicky Hartzler (r): Okay. Excellent. Excellent point. You’re, you’re spot on. I, I joined the, the name of the caucus is China caucus which I wish we’d change, change the name. But basically it’s a watch China caucus. It’s a, it’s a bunch of us who are concerned about China. And on a regular basis we get reports [inaudible] watching what they’re doing.

And I am concerned. They are shipping all the, I’m concerned about the microchips. That they are in many, many of the things that we own. And some of those are embedded, I believe, with, with detection and, uh, capabilities or tracking capabilities. Things that we don’t know. I, I read a report the other day talking how China is the number one spy network in the world. And I thought, we need to have a new, uh, double oh seven James Bond movie, you know, with China as the bad guys, as the spies, because really, it’s true, those movies always portray, uh, Russia or something. But China has the largest spy network, they’re stealing our intelligence from our co, corporations. The article talked about how it’s the largest industrial, um, uh, espionage and, uh, stealing, uh, theft in, in history. And yet, how many people are talking about it, how they’re accessing our intellectual property of our corporations and it’s very concerning.

Just want you to know, it’s supposed to be illegal, uh, you’re supposed to use American products in our military equipment. But, I’m not sure that’s always the case and so I am looking in to that as well, with your concern. To make sure that they’re not using China microchips in our planes or in our tanks or anything else. So, I want to make sure that doesn’t happen. So, I will follow up on that ’cause that is a concern I have as well. So, China is very concerning….

[….]

“…And I am concerned. They are shipping all the, I’m concerned about the microchips. That they are in many, many of the things that we own. And some of those are embedded, I believe, with, with detection and, uh, capabilities or tracking capabilities. Things that we don’t know…”

Today, via Twitter:

Rep. Vicky Hartzler ‏@RepHartzler

Am just starting hearing in HASC on the 2013 Report to Congress on the U.S.-China Economic & Security Review Commission. Important topic. 7:06 AM – 20 Nov 13

And this response, from a constituent:

Bob Yates ‏@OldDrum

@RepHartzler I look forward to reading how the Chinese are planting their microchips in what they make in order to spy on us.7:24 AM – 20 Nov 13

And, a retort!:

Rep. Vicky Hartzler ‏@RepHartzler

@OldDrum You’ve totally distorted the issue. Here’s what Sen. Levin (D) has to say: [….] 7:33 AM – 20 Nov 13

What Senator Carl Levin’s (D) “has to say” is something about counterfeit electronic parts in the Department of Defense supply chain coming from (mostly) China and a few other places:

Senate Armed Services Committee Releases Report on Counterfeit Electronic Parts

Monday, May 21, 2012

…China was found to be the source country for suspect counterfeit parts in an overwhelming majority of those cases, with more than 70 percent of the suspect parts traced to that country.  The next two largest source countries were the United Kingdom and Canada.  The Committee identified instances in which both countries served as resale points for suspect counterfeit electronic parts from China….

“…And I am concerned. They are shipping all the, I’m concerned about the microchips. That they are in many, many of the things that we own. And some of those are embedded, I believe, with, with detection and, uh, capabilities or tracking capabilities. Things that we don’t know…”

Uh, there doesn’t appear to be anything in Senator Levin’s (D) release and in the report [pdf] which refers to “tracking capabilities in some of the things we own.”

Actually, the report addresses substandard parts which could lead to reliability issues in a system or subsystem. That is an important issue, but it’s not “detection or tracking capabilities” embedded in consumer products.

The Department of Defense definition of counterfeit includes “both unauthorized copies and previously used parts that are made to look new, and are sold as new.”

So, the mockery directed at Representative Hartzler (r) via Twitter from the constituent stems from her eager conflation of two different and competing concepts at that town hall in Sedalia, Missouri in 2012:

…On one hand their stuff doesn’t work, and on the other hand the microchips in the stuff they sell us (that does or doesn’t work?) are spying on us…

Somebody did totally distort the issue. It wasn’t Bob Yates.