Senators Call for Legislation to Ensure Security Reviews of Foreign Telecoms

Senators Call for Legislation to Ensure Security Reviews of Foreign Telecoms

A year-long investigation into the actions of an informal collection of agencies responsible for informing decisions about foreign telecom providers’ permission to operate within the United States concluded with a recommendation that Congress establish statutory authorities and requirements for the group.     


“Team Telecom,” as the group is known, is made up of representatives from the departments of Justice, Treasury, Defense Homeland Security and others. Its role advising the Federal Communications Commission on national security issues came to the forefront of telecommunications policy last May when the commission finally denied China Mobile’s application to provide services within the U.S.  


The FCC had been waiting seven years for a recommendation from the executive branch agencies on the petition. A new report produced by the Senate Homeland Security Committee’s permanent subcommittee on investigations emphasized that it was the first time the FCC has denied an application on the basis of national security.      


“This bipartisan report demonstrates that federal agencies have done little to protect the integrity of U.S. telecommunications networks and counter national security threats from China,” Subcommittee Chairman Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said in a press release Tuesday. “The Chinese Communist Party uses its state-owned enterprises to further its cyber and economic espionage efforts against the United States, and they’ve been exploiting our telecommunications networks for nearly two decades while the federal government historically put in little effort to stop it.” 


The report acknowledged the benefit of an executive order Pres ..

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