South OC Times

Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed the Securing Global Telecommunications Act (H.R. 4741), a bipartisan bill led by U.S. Representatives Young Kim (CA-40) and Kathy Manning (NC-06) to promote secure telecommunications infrastructure.

“The Chinese Communist Party should not write the rules of the road for our global telecommunications networks. As adversaries expand their technological capabilities, the United States must keep up and work with our allies to counter malign influence and uphold U.S. competitiveness,” said Rep. Young Kim, who serves as chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Indo-Pacific Subcommittee. “I thank my House colleagues for passing the Securing Global Telecommunications Act to take action to protect our telecommunications infrastructure, and I am grateful to Congresswoman Manning for her partnership in this effort. I’ll keep fighting to get this commonsense bill across the finish line so we can protect our national security in the digital age.”

“The devices we use every day – cell phones, tablets, and computers – connect to increasingly advanced mobile networks that our adversaries seek to dominate,” said Congresswoman Kathy Manning. “That’s why I was proud to introduce the bipartisan Securing Global Telecommunications Act to protect the networks that Americans rely on and to counter Russian and Chinese malign influence over international telecom infrastructure and technical standards. We cannot allow our adversaries to write the rules of the road for technical standards to give themselves an unfair advantage. My bill will address that issue. I thank Congresswoman Young Kim for partnering with me to help pass this critical legislation to U.S. national security. I urge the Senate to move swiftly to send this bill to President Biden’s desk.”

The Securing Global Telecommunications Act would enhance U.S. efforts to promote secure telecommunications infrastructure around the world by requiring the State Department to:

Develop a comprehensive strategy to promote trusted vendors in several categories of critical telecommunications infrastructure;

Report to Congress on Chinese and Russian efforts to advance their interests at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU);

Identify opportunities for multilateral collaboration to promote secure telecom providers; and,

Authorize the International Digital Economic and Telecommunication Advisory Committee (IDET), which advises the Cyberspace and Digital Policy Bureau on ICT policy matters, and establish a permanent IDET private sector subcommittee.

Reps. Kim and Manning introduced this bill in the 117th Congress, and it passed the House on September 20, 2022.