The Secure Equipment Act & The Digital Atlantic Charter: Two important steps to protect American telecommunications

Telecommunications are an important critical infrastructure which we rely upon every day. Not only do we use it to connect with friends and families, but also to conduct business and government affairs. In a digital world, increasingly everything is dependent upon the networks over which our data travels. That makes the question of who owns, and who protects, those networks ever more vital. Now there’s some positive news about efforts to secure how America communicates.

Our existing telecommunications infrastructure faces a significant threat, most especially from the People’s Republic of China. It is vulnerable to both cyberattack and electromagnetic attack from our adversaries, as well as from subtler forms of attack through espionage, economic warfare, and lawfare. The Chinese government exploits Western willingness to integrate state-controlled Chinese companies and Chinese products into Western infrastructure. One example is Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, which has made great strides in European markets. Former Ambassador Pete Hoekstra recently explained:

“Chinese businesses, Huawei included, are controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. They are subsidized by the government. Their strategy is to put people like [European multinational] Ericsson out of business so they can dominate 5G but more importantly that they can dominate this sector moving forward…that the only option the West would have moving forward for 6, 7, 8G would be Chinese products and the technologies that go along with it.”

The domination of Huawei is concerning in part because Huawei and other Chinese telecom companies are known to be able to clandestinely access mobile networks. Under the 2014 Counter-Espionage Law and 2017 Chinese National Intelligence Law Chinese companies may not refuse the Chinese government when asked for information and must “support, assist and cooperate with the state intelligence work.”  Therefore, China’s quest for dominance in the rollout of 5G technology extremely problematic.

Thankfully, the recent bipartisan Secure Equipment Act of 2021 will prohibit the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) “from reviewing or issuing new equipment licenses to companies on the FCC’s ‘Covered Equipment or Services List’ that pose a national security threat.” In a joint press release from the bill’s bi-partisan sponsors, Representatives Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Anna G. Eshoo (D-Calif.) and Senators Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), the lawmakers explained:

“The Secure Equipment Act would prevent equipment manufactured by Chinese state-backed firms such as Huawei, ZTE, Hytera, Hikvision and Dahua from being further utilized and marketed in the United States. This legislation adds an extra layer of security that slams the door on entities that pose a national security risk from having a presence in the U.S. telecommunications network.”

“With this bill being signed into law, we have sent a strong signal to the Chinese Communist Party that America is committed to protecting our telecommunications networks and the data security of our nation,” said Representative Scalise.

The Secure Equipment Act is an important first step in safeguarding America’s telecommunications infrastructure. But alone it is not sufficient.

Dr. Robert Spalding, a retired U.S. Air Force Brigadier General and one of the co-authors of the Trump Administration’s National Security Strategy, proposes a larger and more cooperative agreement between the U.S. and its allies on telecommunications. Spalding founded what he calls a Digital Atlantic Charter initiative to establish common principles for the U.S. and its allies for protecting our data and communications networks.

Spalding explains:

“Data is our most critical resource. A digital Iron Curtain has fallen across the world and personal information is being weaponized like never before, as witnessed in China and other authoritarian regimes. We must safeguard our critical infrastructure and that of other democracies by protecting data and privacy, as well as terrestrial and satellite communications. Now is the time for technology, investment and policy deliberately designed to protect our data sovereignty.”

The Charter is a platform for trusted American and allied corporations and governments to coordinate on protecting their own telecommunications and liberating other nations currently “occupied” by Chinese infrastructure and investments. It is modeled on the 1941 Atlantic Charter which helped set policy for international cooperation post-World War II, based on common principles of liberalization and self-governance.

According to Spalding, the Digital Atlantic Charter “supports countries in every region of the world as they work to protect and ensure the resilience of their critical infrastructure,” with a particular focus on telecommunications infrastructure to defend digital networks and citizens’ data.

Its first investment was in an American company that recently created the world’s first EMP-hardened military-grade secure network and computing platform for use within existing and future 5G networks.

Legislators like Scalise, Eshoo, Rubio, and Markey and thought leaders like Spalding should be commended for initiating policy solutions and investing in real-world technologies needed to protect American telecommunications and our citizens’ data. Now it’s up to other American and allied corporate and government leaders to embrace these policies and technologies to thwart the digital Iron Curtain.