A new committee of executive agency members will have 120 days to complete national security reviews the Federal Communications Commission requires in order to determine whether it should authorize foreign telecommunications providers to operate within the United States, according to an executive order issued over the weekend.
That’s longer than some stakeholders would have liked, but a huge step forward to FCC commissioners from both political parties who have complained of a lack of transparency and deadlines for the process over the years.
The committee, formerly known as “Team Telecom,” includes the defense secretary, the attorney general, homeland security secretary, and “the head of any other executive department or agency, or any assistant to the president, as the president determines appropriate.”
The order comes as the administration tries to balance a crackdown on Chinese telecommunications providers it views as a threat to national security with a need to keep the wheels of global commerce in motion.
“I applaud the President for formalizing Team Telecom review and establishing a process that will allow the Executive Branch to provide its expert input to the FCC in a timely manner,” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in a press release Monday. “Now that this Executive Order has been issued, the FCC will move forward to conclude our own pending rulemaking on reform of the foreign ownership review process.”
That pending rulemaking was initiated by Obama-era FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler with support from Republican Mike O’Rielly, a long-time proponent of a more structured “Team Telecom” process.
“There is little dispute that Team Telecom must improve the transparency and timeliness of th ..
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