IIB 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1149 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 20, 2023 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

AN ACT 

To establish certain reporting and other requirements relating to telecommunications equipment and services produced or provided by certain entities, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Countering Untrusted 

3 Telecommunications Abroad Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

5 It is the sense of Congress that— 

6 (1) the national security of the United States is 

7 affected by the telecommunications security of 

8 United States allies, partners, and other countries 

9 around the globe; 

10 (2) the importance of mobile and internet serv11 ices makes such services tempting and effective tools 

12 for malign influence and economic coercion; 

13 (3) Huawei Technologies Company and ZTE 

14 Corporation (and any subsidiary or affiliate of either 

15 such entity) should not serve as a vendor of tele16 communications equipment or services given the 

17 close ties to, and control over, such entities by the 

18 People’s Republic of China; and 

19 (4) it is in the economic and national security 

20 interests of the United States to ensure that coun21 tries around the globe use trusted telecommuni22 cations equipment or services. 


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1 SEC. 3. REPORT ON UNTRUSTED TELECOMMUNICATIONS 

2 EQUIPMENT OR SERVICES IN COUNTRIES 

3 WITH COLLECTIVE DEFENSE AGREEMENT 

4 WITH UNITED STATES. 

5 (a) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

6 of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter for 

7 two years, the Secretary of State, in consultation with the 

8 Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and 

9 Information, shall submit to the Committees on Foreign 

10 Affairs and Energy and Commerce of the House of Rep11 resentatives and the Committees on Foreign Relations and 

12 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate a 

13 report on the prevalence of untrusted telecommunications 

14 equipment or services in the networks of United States 

15 allies and partners. 

16 (b) MATTERS.—The report under subsection (a) shall 

17 enumerate each United States ally or partner with respect 

18 to which the United States has entered into a collective 

19 defense agreement and include, for each such country, the 

20 following: 

21 (1) A description of the presence, or lack there22 of, of untrusted telecommunications equipment or 

23 services in any 5G network of the country. 

24 (2) If any untrusted telecommunications equip25 ment or service is present in such a network— 


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1 (A) an enumeration of any mobile carriers 

2 that are using the untrusted telecommuni3 cations equipment or service present, and any 

4 mobile carriers that are not; 

5 (B) a determination of whether the 

6 untrusted telecommunications equipment or 

7 service present is in the core or periphery of the 

8 network; and 

9 (C) any plans by the United States ally or 

10 partner, or the individual mobile carrier, to rip 

11 and replace the untrusted telecommunications 

12 equipment or service present with a trusted 

13 telecommunications equipment or service. 

14 (3) A description of any plans by network oper15 ators to use untrusted communications equipment or 

16 services in the deployment of Open Radio Access 

17 Network (Open RAN) technology, or any successor 

18 to such technology, or in future 6G networks. 

19 SEC. 4. REPORT ON COVERED TELECOMMUNICATIONS 

20 EQUIPMENT OR SERVICES IN UNITED STATES 

21 EMBASSIES. 

22 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

23 (1) The Comptroller General of the United 

24 States has reported that 23 percent of all tele25 communications device manufacturers of the DepartVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:46 Apr 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1149.RFS H1149

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1 ment of State have at least one supplier reported to 

2 be headquartered in the People’s Republic of China 

3 or the Russian Federation. 

4 (2) The Comptroller General has reported that 

5 four percent of all telecommunications contractors of 

6 the Department of State have at least one supplier 

7 reported to be headquartered in the People’s Repub8 lic of China. 

9 (b) REPORT.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

11 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec12 retary of State, in consultation with the heads of 

13 such other departments and agencies as the Sec14 retary determines necessary, shall submit to the 

15 Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Rep16 resentatives and the Committee on Foreign Rela17 tions of the Senate a report containing an assess18 ment of the use of covered telecommunications 

19 equipment or services in United States embassies 

20 and by United States embassy staff and personnel. 

21 (2) MATTERS.—The report under paragraph 

22 (1) shall include information on the following: 

23 (A) The status of the implementation by 

24 the Secretary of State of the prohibition under 

25 subsection (a)(1) of section 889 of the John S. 


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1 McCain National Defense Authorization Act for 

2 Fiscal Year 2019 (Public Law 115–232; 132 

3 Stat. 1917; 41 U.S.C. 3901 note prec.) with re4 spect to equipment, systems, and services used 

5 at United States embassies, including— 

6 (i) an identification of the United 

7 States embassies with respect to which the 

8 Secretary has implemented such prohibi9 tion, and an identification of those with re10 spect to which the Secretary has not imple11 mented such prohibition, if any; 

12 (ii) an identification of any difficulties 

13 that have delayed the implementation of 

14 such prohibition by the Secretary with re15 spect to United States embassies, such as 

16 visibility into supply chains, costs of equip17 ment replacement, and plans for timely re18 mediation; 

19 (iii) information on any waivers that 

20 have been granted to an entity under sub21 section (d) of such section 889 for equip22 ment, systems, or services used at United 

23 States embassies, including a justification 

24 of why each waiver was granted and any 


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1 other information required pursuant to 

2 paragraph (1)(B) of such subsection; and 

3 (iv) for any entity that has sought a 

4 waiver specified in clause (iii), the imple5 mentation status of the phase-out plan of 

6 the entity submitted by the entity pursuant 

7 to subsection (d) of such section 889. 

8 (B) Information regarding the extent to 

9 which the digital devices of United States em10 bassy staff and personnel are serviced by 

11 Huawei Technologies Company or ZTE Cor12 poration (or any subsidiary or affiliate of either 

13 such entity), or any other entity headquartered 

14 in the People’s Republic of China, and an as15 sessment of the likelihood of the intelligence 

16 services of the People’s Republic of China gain17 ing access to the contents and data of the dig18 ital devices used by United States embassy per19 sonnel as a result of any such servicing. 

20 (C) Any other information regarding ongo21 ing efforts to safeguard the communications se22 curity of United States embassies. 

23 (3) FORM.—The report under paragraph (1) 

24 shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may in25 clude a classified annex. 


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1 SEC. 5. SUPPORTING TRUSTED TELECOMMUNICATIONS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State, in con3 sultation with the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for 

4 Communications and Information, shall select for the pro5 vision of support under this section telecommunications in6 frastructure projects that have the potential, as deter7 mined by the Secretary, to promote the national security 

8 of the United States and meet such other requirements 

9 as the Secretary may prescribe. 

10 (b) DIPLOMATIC AND POLITICAL SUPPORT.—The 

11 Secretary of State shall provide to each project selected 

12 under subsection (a), as appropriate, diplomatic and polit13 ical support, including by using the diplomatic and polit14 ical influence and expertise of the Department of State 

15 to build the capacity of countries to resolve any impedi16 ments to the development of the project. 

17 (c) EARLY STAGE PROJECT SUPPORT.—The Director 

18 of the United States Trade and Development Agency 

19 should provide, as appropriate, early-stage project support 

20 with respect to projects selected under subsection (a). 

21 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

22 In this Act: 

23 (1) COVERED TELECOMMUNICATIONS EQUIP24 MENT OR SERVICE; UNTRUSTED TELECOMMUNI25 CATIONS EQUIPMENT OR SERVICE.—The terms ‘‘cov26 ered telecommunications equipment or service’’ and 


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1 ‘‘untrusted telecommunications equipment or serv2 ice’’ have the meaning given to the term ‘‘covered 

3 communications equipment or service’’ in section 9 

4 of the Secure and Trusted Communications Network 

5 Act of 2019 (47 U.S.C. 1608). 

6 (2) TRUSTED TELECOMMUNICATIONS EQUIP7 MENT OR SERVICE.—The term ‘‘trusted tele8 communications equipment or service’’ means any 

9 telecommunications equipment or service that is not 

10 a covered telecommunications equipment or service. 

Passed the House of Representatives April 19, 2023. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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