US House Committee holds hearing on protecting communications networks from foreign threats
The Communications and Technology Subcommittee of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee held a legislative hearing on securing the nation’s communications networks from adversaries like China and advancing American leadership.
Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Republican from Washington and Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, along with Bob Latta, a Republican from Ohio and Chair of the Communications and Technology Subcommittee, announced a hearing to scrutinize the primary vulnerabilities in communications that are exploited by foreign adversaries. Additionally, it evaluated whether the U.S. and its allies are effectively encouraging the use of secure communications equipment vendors, and identified the specific pieces of communications equipment that are crucial for safeguarding U.S. networks.
The witnesses to the hearing included James Lewis, senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS); Craig Singleton, China program senior director and senior fellow at the Foundation of Defense of Democracies, and Lindsay Gorman, senior fellow for emerging technologies at German Marshall Fund’s Alliance for Securing Democracy.
The legislation to discussed included H.R. 820, the Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act; H.R. 2864, the Countering CCP Drones Act; H.R.____, Promote Secure Connectivity to Taiwan Act; H.R.____, Removing Our Unsecure Technologies to Ensure Reliability and Security (ROUTERS) Act; and the H.R. 1513, the Future Uses of Technology Upholding Reliable and Enhancing Networks (FUTURE) Networks Act.
The Energy Committee hearing comes as in recent decades, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has taken aggressive steps to overtake the U.S. and its allies as the world’s economic power. The CCP invested heavily in a range of industries domestically to become less dependent on the U.S. and its allies for China’s critical infrastructure. In the case of communications infrastructure, the CCP developed insecure telecommunications equipment and exported it around the world to assist in its espionage activities.
It also added that Congress passed the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019 to remove some of this equipment from networks in the U.S. and help carriers replace it with equipment from trusted vendors.
“Americans rely on technology daily for some of their most personal needs, such as banking, healthcare, or communications,” the Committee added. “As Americans become more connected, it becomes even more crucial that the equipment that they buy is secure. With the known vulnerabilities in many technologies produced by the CCP, we must take steps to reduce the widespread availability of this equipment that poses a national security threat in the United States.”
Rodgers wrote in her opening statement “Over the past year, this Committee has held numerous hearings to discuss the many threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party to the U.S. These range from supply chain vulnerabilities to espionage and attacks on our communications networks.”
“China-based companies, like Huawei and ZTE, have emerged as top players in the global telecommunications industry. These companies operate in an environment tightly intertwined with the Chinese government, raising questions about their independence and potential for exploitation by the CCP,” according to Rodgers. “Relying on their technology comes with significant risk. It could be used by the CCP to surveil Americans, steal people’s personal information, and even shut down entire networks.”
She highlighted that that’s why in 2020, “Congress enacted the Secured and Trusted Communications Networks Act to remove Huawei and ZTE entirely from our networks. That work is ongoing, and it continues to be a top priority of this committee to make sure carriers have the resources they need to remove this equipment from U.S. networks and replace it with trusted equipment. But that’s just the first step,” she added.
Rodgers pointed out that China’s aggressive pursuit of technological advancement is a direct threat to American national security and economic leadership.
“The Chinese government’s strategic initiatives, such as the Made in China 2025 plan and the Belt and Road initiative, aim to achieve dominance in technologies that are critical to winning the future,” she assessed. “That includes technologies like artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and advanced manufacturing.”
She added that additional actions taken by China, including intellectual property theft, forced technology transfer, and state-sponsored industrial espionage, further undermine free markets, fair competition, and American innovation and entrepreneurship.
“Perhaps most alarming is the evolving landscape of cyber threats posed by China,” Rodgers outlined. “Last month, we held a hearing on cybersecurity, where we examined how foreign actors are increasingly exploiting widespread vulnerabilities in our critical infrastructure. State-sponsored cyberattacks targeting U.S. government agencies, businesses, hospitals, and our military have become increasingly sophisticated, frequent, and pose significant economic and national security risks.”
Identifying not to look further than the 2017 Equifax data breach, “which exposed the personal information of hundreds of millions of Americans, or the 2020 SolarWinds incident, which gave China-based hackers access to sensitive information across the federal government,” Rodgers flagged that these vulnerabilities must be addressed.
Rodgers added “Today, we will examine a number of legislative solutions to counter the influence of China and promote U.S. leadership in technology. This hearing will be an opportunity to discuss adding certain CCP-controlled technologies and equipment to the Federal Communications Commission’s Covered List and how to increase transparency for Americans about which companies operating in the U.S. are owned by China.”
“We will also look at ways we can strengthen communications with our allies overseas and establish a 6G taskforce to advance American innovation and win the future.” Rodgers detailed. “The United States faces exceedingly complex threats from China and other adversaries that require a comprehensive and coordinated response. This response must include efforts to secure critical supply chains, protect our allies, strengthen cybersecurity defenses, and engage in strategic competition with China in key technologies.”
She pointed out that failure to address these challenges effectively not only jeopardizes U.S. economic competitiveness and national security but also risks ceding ground to an adversarial power intent on reshaping the global order in its favor.
A complimentary guide to the who`s who in industrial cybersecurity tech & solutions
Free DownloadRelated
