Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr told lawmakers that threats from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are still a major concern in telecom equipment in the United States.
Carr warned members of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services during a May 21 hearing that despite work to remove Chinese equipment from U.S. networks, there is still a lot to be done.
The FCC head spoke to the government’s work to complete the Rip and Replace program to remove equipment from companies like Huawei and ZTE, which could be completed within a year, despite funding shortfalls that caused delays.
Rip and Replace
In 2021, at the start of the Rip and Replace program, $1.9 billion was earmarked to repay U.S. telecom carriers to remove and replace network equipment manufactured by the Chinese-based companies.Both Huawei and ZTE were previously designated as national security threats, and companies were also required to stop using government funds to buy equipment from the firms.
Former FCC Chairman said at the time that, “Both companies have close ties to the Chinese Communist Party and China’s military apparatus, and both companies are broadly subject to Chinese law obligating them to cooperate with the country’s intelligence services.
“We cannot and will not allow the Chinese Communist Party to exploit network vulnerabilities and compromise our critical communications infrastructure.
The same year, the FCC voted unanimously to ban approvals for equipment for U.S. telecommunications networks from Chinese companies considered a possible national security threat, like Huawei and ZTE.
Just a few months later, the FCC also moved to terminate the license of China Telecom Americas, a subsidiary of China Telecom, that allowed the company to provide both domestic and international services.
At the time, the regulator said the firm “is subject to exploitation, influence, and control by the Chinese government” and is “highly likely” to comply with Beijing’s orders.
The Justice Department found at the time that China Telecom made false statements about where the company stored U.S. records, causing questions about who had access to the records. The Justice Department said the firm also misrepresented the company’s cybersecurity practices, driving concerns about compliance with U.S. cybersecurity and privacy laws.
Prior Legislation
President Joe Biden signed into law the “Secure Equipment Act of 2021” to protect the domestic telecommunication systems through the restriction of companies that pose possible security threats. This law bans companies from adversarial nations from receiving new equipment licenses from U.S. regulators.Later, during the last year of the Biden administration, then FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel reiterated the need for funding for the Rip and Replace program, saying that more than 100 providers were working to remove CCP-connected companies’ equipment from their systems.
Late last year, American telecom networks were in the news when intelligence officials confirmed the presence of Chinese state-backed hackers on American networks.
Deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technologies Anne Neuberger said that a Chinese state-sponsored hacker group called “Salt Typhoon” was found to have compromised at least eight American telecommunications companies.
More Threats
According to Carr, the continuing threat from the CCP is “multifaceted” and a bigger issue than just physical infrastructure: “They don’t just come to our country through one particular technology vector.”The FCC chair cited previous actions to cut off Chinese state-linked providers, like China Mobile and China Telecom, as crucial, but said cybersecurity threats like intrusion by the Chinese hacking group “Volt Typhoon” are still a potential risk.
According to Carr, “we need to be exceptionally vigilant across every single technology vector right now.”
In addition to the Rip and Replace program, the FCC head said his agency is working to block other potential intrusions from adversarial countries, including changing the equipment authorization program.
He explained that technology entering the United States has to be checked for compliance with standards for things like spectrum use and power levels. Under his leadership, changes are being made to ensure that the labs that do those checks aren’t compromised.
“We’re asking for national security checks as part of the devices that are coming in ... [to] determine whether individual labs that perform these checks for the U.S. for any device are themselves trustworthy.
Carr went on to say they are “adopting a new standard” in order to “make sure the labs that do the testing for devices are not themselves beholden to some sort of foreign adversaries.”
