If you’ve ever passed a busy U.S. port, you probably noticed those ginormous COSCO cargo ships laden with a seemingly impossible number of shipping containers. The first time I saw them many years ago, I briefly confused the name with the U.S. based retail warehouse giant Costco.

But no, not hardly — COSCO is operated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and three GOP lawmakers are warning that they use their many ships along our coastline to actively spy on our signals communications.

House China Committee Chairman John Moolenaar (MI-2), House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Rick Crawford (AR-1) and Rep. Carlos Gimenez (FL-28), chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security, wrote DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin Wednesday, warning him of the espionage and urging the U.S. to revoke the special privileges COSCO’s vessels receive.

COSCO, a Chinese-military company and one of the world’s largest shippers, is using its vessels to conduct espionage operations near U.S. coastlines.

Select Committee Chairman @RepMoolenaar, @RepRickCrawford, and @RepCarlos sent a letter to @DHSGov Secretary Markwayne Mullin urging him to review and revoke COSCO Shipping’s privileges of receiving fewer inspections at American ports.

Reuters reported on the spying allegations in September, and now the three representatives are arguing that the favorable treatment COSCO receives under a Coast Guard program — Qualship 21, which rewards trusted commercial operators by reducing the frequency of inspections — must end. It's unclear why they'd get such treatment in the first place when the Pentagon lists them as a Chinese military company.

Political analyst and China Hawk Gordon Chang thinks we should do a lot more than just stop the favorable treatment:

GOP Rep. Pat Harrigan (R-10) agrees:

The September 1 Reuters story reported that two senior Trump administration officials alleged that COSCO is up to all sorts of no good:

The advanced equipment aboard the ships is intended to enable China to gather information about "military communications technologies and encryption developments," one of the officials said.

The effort also allows Beijing ⁠to monitor key shipping lanes and maritime routes crucial for trade and military navigation, the official added.

COSCO did not respond to a request for comment, while China's embassy in Washington rejected the U.S. claims.

The sources added that these ships don’t just have standard communication equipment on board; they’ve got far more than that, including what they called "sophisticated signals intelligence collection" platforms.

If you look at those monster ships and think they’re just carrying big-screen TVs, clothes, and goods for us to enjoy, now you know that they just might be looking right back at you.