II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3775 

To authorize the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State to enter 

into contracts with satellite-based companies to provide or propagate 

internet and mobile service in countries where the United States Government is engaged in, or providing support related to, contingency operations, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 8 (legislative day, MARCH 7), 2022 

Mr. CORNYN (for himself and Ms. KLOBUCHAR) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary 

of State to enter into contracts with satellite-based companies to provide or propagate internet and mobile service in countries where the United States Government 

is engaged in, or providing support related to, contingency operations, 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safely Accessing Tele5 communications Act of 2022’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AUTHORITY FOR DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE TO 

2 CONTRACT WITH SATELLITE-BASED COMPA3 NIES TO PROVIDE INTERNET AND MOBILE 

4 SERVICE DURING CONTINGENCY OPER5 ATIONS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

7 (1) DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE.—The Sec8 retary of Defense may enter into contracts with sat9 ellite-based communication service providers to pro10 vide or propagate broadband internet access service 

11 and related telecommunications services and mobile 

12 service in countries where the United States Govern13 ment is engaged in, or providing support related to, 

14 contingency operations, for purposes of providing 

15 military assistance. 

16 (2) DEPARTMENT OF STATE.—The Secretary of 

17 State may enter into contracts with satellite-based 

18 companies to provide or propagate internet and mo19 bile service in countries where the United States 

20 Government is engaged in, or providing support re21 lated to, contingency operations, for purposes of pro22 viding humanitarian assistance. 

23 (3) ANCILLARY SERVICES.—A contract author24 ized under this subsection may include both the pro25 vision of the service itself and the procurement and 

26 distribution of end-point infrastructure necessary for 


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1 the operations of the service, including stations, 

2 modems, hubs for internet service, customer termi3 nals, equipment required to access the broadband 

4 internet access service and related telecommuni5 cations services, and cellular devices. 

6 (b) CONSIDERATIONS.—In entering into a contract to 

7 provide or propagate internet or mobile service pursuant 

8 to subsection (a), the Secretary of Defense or the Sec9 retary of State, as the case may be, shall consider the fol10 lowing factors: 

11 (1) The degree to which the use of such service 

12 will be in the national security interests of the 

13 United States or its allies. 

14 (2) The degree to which the use of such service 

15 will protect the health and safety of displaced per16 sons due to the contingency operation. 

17 (3) Whether the use of such service or the cap18 ture thereof would negatively impact the security of 

19 the user or the United States. 

20 (4) Whether the service provider is capable of 

21 increasing the security of the service and the data 

22 transmitted via the service. 

23 (5) The degree to which such service may be 

24 controlled from outside the conflict zone to limit its 

25 use by enemy actors. 


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1 (6) The costs and benefits of providing such 

2 service as compared to other forms of telecommuni3 cations assistance. 

4 (7) The speed, reliability, and geographic cov5 erage with which a service provider may provide 

6 operational telecommunications services. 

7 (8) Whether the use of such service would en8 hance the capabilities of the allied government to 

9 provide essential services to its citizens in the con10 flict zone. 

11 (c) COMPLIANCE REQUIREMENTS.— 

12 (1) DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE ENTITY

13 LIST.—Any company awarded a contract under sub14 section (a) shall be required to comply with the En15 tity List maintained by the Department of Com16 merce and set forth in Supplement No. 4 to part 

17 744 of the Export Administration Regulations under 

18 subchapter C of chapter VII of title 15, Code of 

19 Federal Regulations. 

20 (2) LIST OF COVERED COMMUNICATIONS

21 EQUIPMENT OR SERVICES.—No covered communica22 tions equipment or service, as defined in section 9 

23 of the Secure and Trusted Communications Net24 works Act of 2019 (47 U.S.C. 1608), may be pro25 cured or distributed under a contract entered into by 


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1 the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of State 

2 under subsection (a). 

3 (d) RESTRICTIONS.—In entering into a contract to 

4 provide or propagate internet or mobile service pursuant 

5 to subsection (a), the Secretary of Defense or the Sec6 retary of State, as the case may be, may not— 

7 (1) provide such service for a period longer 

8 than is necessary to prevent or prepare for an immi9 nent armed conflict, respond to an active armed con10 flict, or recover from a recent armed conflict in 

11 which the United States has a strategic interest; or 

12 (2) compel a service provider to provide a serv13 ice. 

14 (e) COST REIMBURSEMENT AGREEMENTS.—The Sec15 retary of Defense and the Secretary of State may enter 

16 into agreements with governments of threatened countries 

17 and countries supporting threatened countries to reim18 burse or offset the costs of providing services under con19 tracts entered into pursuant to subsection (a). 

20 (f) LIMITATION.—The Secretary of Defense and the 

21 Secretary of State may not reimburse a company with 

22 which a contract has been entered into under subsection 

23 (a) for services provided before the start date indicated 

24 in the contract. 


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1 (g) CONSULTATION WITH AGENCIES THAT REGU2 LATE TELECOMMUNICATIONS.—The Secretary of Defense 

3 and the Secretary of State shall consult with the Federal 

4 Communications Commission and the Assistant Secretary 

5 of Commerce for Communications and Information on how 

6 to expedite the granting, by foreign governments, of li7 censes or other authorizations for the provision of internet 

8 service or mobile service under contracts entered into 

9 under subsection (a). 

10 (h) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec11 tion supersedes or limits the authority of the President, 

12 the Secretary of Defense, or the Secretary of State under 

13 the Federal Acquisition Regulation. 

14 (i) MOBILE SERVICE DEFINED.—In this section, the 

15 term ‘‘mobile service’’ has the meaning given the term in 

16 section 3 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

17 153). 

Æ 


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