In our connected world, national security increasingly demands that we protect ourselves against emerging digital threats. In perhaps the most high-profile example of how new digital dangers require new solutions, the President just signed a bipartisan bill to ban TikTok, which is subject to the control of the Chinese government, if ByteDance does not sell its ownership stake. This is an issue that my colleague, Commissioner Carr, has spoken about extensively and long before this legislation moved through Congress. Along with him, I want to thank Commissioners Starks, Simington, and Gomez for their thoughtful partnership on national security matters before the FCC. Working together, we have enacted and enforced rules to safeguard our wired and wireless networks from communications equipment that has been determined to pose an unacceptable risk to national security. The Commission’s May Open Meeting will be headlined by a new bipartisan action to keep United States communications safe and secure. Here’s what to expect.
- We’re enhancing security for the communications supply chain. The FCC is charged with certifying wireless technologies to make sure they comply with Commission rules regarding interference, radio-frequency emissions, hearing aid compatibility, and more. To fulfill this responsibility efficiently so that new devices can get to market quickly, the Commission relies on a global network of hundreds of test labs, which analyze new technologies, and dozens of telecommunications certification bodies (TCBs), which review the labs’ results and make the call whether or not to authorize new equipment. The Commission will consider a proposal to make sure that the Commission’s Equipment Authorization program is not influenced by untrustworthy actors and can rise to the challenge posed by persistent and ever-changing security and supply chain threats.
- We will consider an adjudicatory matter from our Media Bureau.
- We will consider four items from our Enforcement Bureau.
—Jessica