(The Center Square) – A bill to protect American telecommunications against foreign adversaries is headed to the U.S. Senate floor.
The Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act, which is co-sponsored by a Nevada senator, would mandate the Federal Communications Commission to publicly name foreign, adversarial government entities that hold licenses, authorizations or grants with the commission.
If this law is passed, the FCC would have 120 days to name these countries.
To dig even further, the commission would have 18 months to create new rules that help identify more countries.
Furthermore, the FCC would have one year after the new rules were created to add to the public list.
This act would require the FCC to update its list on an annual basis.
Sens. Jacky Rosen, D-Nevada, and Deb Fischer, R-Nebraska, introduced this bipartisan bill, which was advanced Wednesday by the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee.
America needs to protect itself from foreign adversaries that “are trying to hack our systems and access our information,” Rosen said.
“I’m glad to see that our bipartisan bill to help protect our telecommunications systems from adversarial nations, including China, Russia and Iran, passed out of committee today,” she explained Wednesday. “I’ll keep pushing to secure our networks and strengthen our national security.”
Fischer said America could not let China and Russia “have silent footholds” in its tech and communication markets.
The senator added that the FACE Act will require the FCC to review the “communication risks foreign ownership ties pose to America’s national security.”
She also said the U.S. must be able to respond to these foreign threats.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the same bill this week. It was introduced by Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Richmond, Virginia.
“The House’s passage of my bipartisan FACT Act marks real progress in countering foreign threats to our tech infrastructure,” he explained.
