The report related to motherboards made by server manufacturer Super Micro, and it suggested that Apple and Amazon found chips on the servers that gave spies a backdoor into their networks. Bloomberg is standing behind its story, though the companies at the heart of the report and Homeland Security have denied it. Apple CEO Tim Cook has also urged Bloomberg to retract the story.

Coats addressed the situation in a speech at the CyberTalks event, in which he warned of threats to the supply chain, noting that the administration is keeping an eye on the matter. "Understand that cyberthreats to your supply chain are an insidious problem that can jeopardize the integrity of your products," he said.