The FCC voted yesterday to begin a process to formalize a way to identify entities holding agency communications licenses and authorizations that are controlled by what the federal government considers to be a foreign adversary.
The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) intends to require holders of covered Commission-issued licenses, authorizations, or approvals to certify whether they are owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of a foreign adversary. If so, they must disclose foreign ownership interests and the nature of the foreign ownership and control.
“Foreign adversaries like China are engaged in a multi-pronged effort to identify and exploit any vulnerabilities in our communications infrastructure,” said FCC Chair Brendan Carr. “We have seen this at the device level with the risks posed by Huawei and ZTE. We have seen this at the carrier level with the FCC acting to revoke the authorizations of providers like China Mobile and China Telecom. And we see it across our communications infrastructure with hacks and other cyber intrusions that have been tied back to China.”
“Up to now, the FCC and relevant stakeholders have had limited visibility into the ways that foreign adversaries might exert control over the entities we regulate,” he explained. Carr noted that while the agency does collect foreign ownership information from regulated entities now, “there are gaps in our information collection. Specifically, the FCC does not have a uniform approach for identifying foreign adversaries that may hold an interest in an FCC license or authorization. Nor has our approach taken into account the various ways that foreign adversaries can exercise control.”
With the NPRM, the agency seeks public comment on obtaining the information necessary for the FCC to publish a list of all regulated entities that are subject to the control of a foreign adversary.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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