Cybersecurity and Cyberwarfare

An influential Senate panel is calling for stricter oversight of Chinese telecommunications companies operating in the US after an investigation found years of weak supervision by regulators threatens national security. In a forthcoming report, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations will level sharp criticism at a group of telecom regulators for failing to scrutinize the Chinese companies and the way they handle data going back nearly two decades.

The impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on the daily lives of billions of people — including elites in nearly every country — has set the stage for many profound changes that will take place when the current pandemic is over. High on the list of things that will look different to almost everyone is the internet. For billions of people in dozens of countries, the internet will no longer be an exotic medium of interest to some people. It was their lifeline for weeks or months.

When it comes to the Internet, the COVID-19 crisis is teaching us that we’re so much better off than we could have been, but not as good as we need to be. COVID-19 is a stress test for many systems in the United States, most critically in our health, government, education, media, retail and financial services sectors. All of them are now depending more than ever on the Internet to serve their users. The current health crisis will likely peak some time this year, but our intensified reliance on digital technology will not.

All eyes are on Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai on whether he’s about to unveil a potential order to approve a long-pending application from Virginia-based satellite company Ligado Networks, which wants to light up 5G operations in some airwaves it currently holds. Lawmakers have nudged him for months to make a call on this industry request, but the Pentagon and other parts of the Trump administration have cried foul and said Ligado’s plans would disrupt their own critical operations in nearby airwaves — charges Ligado disputes.

Trump administration officials sought to revoke federal licenses used by China Telecom to do business in the US as part of a broader campaign to curb global Chinese technology interests on national security grounds. A collection of federal agencies led by the Department of Justice and including the departments of Defense and Homeland Security asked the Federal Communications Commission to permanently revoke licenses the Chinese internet service provider’s US subsidiary has used since 2007 to act as a “common carrier” connecting domestic and overseas networks.

US officials granted Google permission to turn on a high-speed internet link to Taiwan but not to the Chinese territory of Hong Kong, citing national-security concerns in a ruling that underscores fraying ties between Washington and Beijing.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai issued the following statement on President Donald Trump’s Executive Order on Establishing the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the USTelecommunications Services Sector: “I applaud the President for formalizing Team Telecom review and establishing a process that will allow the Executive Branch to provide its expert input to the FCC in a timely manner. Now that this Executive Order has been issued, the FCC will move forward to conclude our own pending rulemaking on reform of the foreign ownership review process.

President Donald Trump established the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the United States Telecommunications Services Sector, the primary objective of which shall be to assist the Federal Communications Commission in its public interest review of national security and law enforcement concerns that may be raised by foreign participation in the United States telecommunications services sector.  The function of the Committee shall be: (i) to review applications and licenses for risks to national security and law enforcement interests posed by such applications or licens

The United States and like-minded countries will lead global development, deployment, and management of secure and reliable fifth-generation (5G) communications infrastructure, which includes hardware, software, and services used to provide 5G.