117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3344 

AN ACT 

To prioritize the efforts of and enhance coordination among 

United States agencies to encourage countries in Central 

and Eastern Europe to improve the security of their 

telecommunications networks, 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 ‘‘Transatlantic Tele3 communications Security Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS; STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

5 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con6 gress that— 

7 (1) fifth and future generation’s telecommuni8 cation networks in allied and partner countries 

9 based on common, secure, transparent, democratic 

10 standards have the potential to increase cultural, po11 litical, and economic exchanges leading to mutual 

12 job creation, closer citizen relations, and stronger 

13 democratic institutions; 

14 (2) Russia’s unprovoked, unjustified, and illegal 

15 invasion of Ukraine and the People’s Republic of 

16 China’s tacit support for Russian Federation’s ac17 tions demonstrate the importance of secure tele18 communication infrastructure in Central and East19 ern European nations; 

20 (3) the United States has national security and 

21 economic interests in assisting Central and Eastern 

22 European countries to improve the security of their 

23 telecommunication networks by reducing dependence 

24 on covered telecommunication equipment or services 

25 that are often offered with predatory economic in-
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1 ducements and replacing them with secure tele2 communication equipment or services; 

3 (4) China’s Belt and Road Initiative and the 

4 17+1 Initiative seek to undermine Central and 

5 Eastern Europe’s infrastructure resilience and sov6 ereignty through predatory inducements from state7 linked providers of telecommunication equipment or 

8 services such as Huawei Technologies Company and 

9 ZTE Corporation; 

10 (5) China’s 2017 National Intelligence Law ob11 ligates Chinese businesses to fully cooperate with 

12 state intelligence work, and thereby compromises the 

13 integrity of any network that utilizes equipment 

14 from Chinese companies because providers could be 

15 forced to hand over sensitive data or shut down net16 works at the command of China; 

17 (6) Russia’s campaign to elect a Russian na18 tional, who is a former Huawei Technologies Com19 pany executive, to serve as the Secretary-General of 

20 the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is 

21 indicative of China and Russia’s efforts to use inter22 national organizations to promote their interests and 

23 their malign influence; 

24 (7) at global fora such as the ITU, the United 

25 States Government should actively support can-
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1 didates that espouse democratic values, internet 

2 freedoms, and secure telecommunication networks; 

3 (8) the United States International Develop4 ment Finance Corporation’s development priorities, 

5 as described in section 1412 of the Better Utiliza6 tion of Investments Leading to Development Act of 

7 2018, properly includes a focus on less developed 

8 countries; 

9 (9) the United States should assemble a coali10 tion of democratic and like-minded allies and part11 ners to counter the rise of global malign actors such 

12 as China and Russia and build resilience in Central 

13 and Eastern Europe against malign influences; and 

14 (10) in order to ensure robust military coordi15 nation and interoperability with the North Atlantic 

16 Treaty Organization (NATO) and transatlantic al17 lies and partners, the United States should ensure 

18 that allies and partners’ telecommunication networks 

19 are secure and free from potential threats in accord20 ance with the 2019 NATO London Declaration. 

21 (b) STATEMENT OF POLICY.—It is the policy of the 

22 United States— 

23 (1) to strengthen the transatlantic alliance 

24 based on shared values in the face of rising malign 

25 influence from the People’s Republic of China and 
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1 the Russian Federation, countries that seek to un2 dermine democratic institutions and values; 

3 (2) to encourage public and private sector in4 vestment in European telecommunication infrastruc5 ture projects to ensure secure telecommunication 

6 and to catalyze economic advancement through the 

7 highest standards of transparency, accessibility, and 

8 competition; 

9 (3) to provide economically feasible alternatives 

10 to financing from providers of covered telecommuni11 cation equipment or services; 

12 (4) to engage in diplomacy with European allies 

13 and partners to strengthen the United States and 

14 European private sector efforts to develop common 

15 telecommunication technology and industry stand16 ards, and in turn promote them globally; 

17 (5) to support the Three Seas Initiative orga18 nized by 12 Central and Eastern European countries 

19 of the European Union to increase infrastructure re20 siliency and reduce reliance on malign actors, includ21 ing in the telecommunication space; 

22 (6) to enhance telecommunication security and 

23 freedom around the globe by engaging in elections at 

24 the ITU and promoting the candidacies of individ25 uals that will promote democratic values, the rule of 
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1 law, technological freedoms, and telecommunication 

2 security; 

3 (7) to support the people of Ukraine, Moldova, 

4 Georgia, and the Western Balkan countries in their 

5 desire for integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions 

6 and economies through enhanced cross-border tele7 communication infrastructure connectivity; and 

8 (8) to ensure that frontline NATO allies have 

9 telecommunication services that cannot be controlled 

10 by China or Russia, especially considering Russia’s 

11 illegal and unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine. 

12 SEC. 3. INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATION UNION SE13 CURITY CAMPAIGN DIRECTOR. 

14 (a) APPOINTMENT.—Not later than 30 days after the 

15 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State 

16 shall appoint, from among existing personnel of the De17 partment of State, an International Telecommunication 

18 Union Security Campaign Director (in this section re19 ferred to as the ‘‘Director’’). 

20 (b) DUTIES.—The Director shall— 

21 (1) lead efforts to promote candidates for elec22 tions at the International Telecommunication Union 

23 (ITU) who will support and defend democratic val24 ues, internet freedom, and telecommunication secu25 rity; 
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1 (2) coordinate with other officials of the De2 partment of State, the Department of Commerce, 

3 the Federal Communications Commission, and other 

4 Federal departments and agencies to ensure efforts 

5 described in paragraph (1) are carried out in an or6 ganized, nimble, efficient, and effective manner; 

7 (3) work with stakeholders in the private sector 

8 to harmonize efforts and to galvanize focus on elec9 tions at the ITU; 

10 (4) use diplomatic tools of the Department of 

11 State to bolster support for candidates for elections 

12 at the ITU who will support and defend democratic 

13 values, internet freedom, and telecommunication se14 curity; 

15 (5) brief Congress regularly on the implementa16 tion of the duties described in paragraphs (1) 

17 through (4) and, if appropriate, on requests for ad18 ditional legislative authority necessary to enhance 

19 telecommunication security and freedom around the 

20 globe as described in section 2(b)(6); and 

21 (6) report to the Assistant Secretary of State 

22 for International Organization Affairs regularly on 

23 development, progress, or setbacks with respect to 

24 support to the people of Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, 
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1 and the Western Balkan countries as described in 

2 section 2(b)(7). 

3 (c) SUNSET.—This section shall terminate on Octo4 ber 31, 2022. 

5 SEC. 4. PRIORITIZATION OF EFFORTS AND ASSISTANCE 

6 FOR TELECOMMUNICATION INFRASTRUC7 TURE PROJECTS IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN 

8 EUROPE. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the policy de10 scribed in section 2(b), the Secretary of State, in consulta11 tion with the Secretary of Commerce, the Chief Executive 

12 Officer of the United States International Development 

13 Finance Corporation, the Director of the Trade and Devel14 opment Agency, the head of the Federal Communications 

15 Commission, and the heads of other relevant Federal de16 partments and agencies, shall, as appropriate, prioritize 

17 and expedite the efforts of the Department of State and 

18 those departments and agencies in supporting the efforts 

19 of the European Commission and the governments of Cen20 tral and Eastern European countries to improve the secu21 rity of their telecommunication networks, including 

22 through providing diplomatic and political support to the 

23 European Commission and Central and Eastern European 

24 countries, as necessary— 
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1 (1) to ensure European telecommunication net2 works are built securely, consistent with democratic 

3 values and principles such as privacy, including 

4 through early-stage project support and late-stage 

5 project support for the construction or improvement 

6 of telecommunication and related infrastructure; 

7 (2) to remove covered telecommunication equip8 ment or services and replace such equipment or serv9 ices with secure telecommunication equipment or 

10 services; 

11 (3) to support the development of telecommuni12 cation networks that are inclusive, transparent, eco13 nomically viable, financially, environmentally, and 

14 socially sustainable, compliant with international 

15 standards, laws, and regulations, and supplied by 

16 providers of secure telecommunication equipment or 

17 services; and 

18 (4) to facilitate international coordination on 

19 cross-border telecommunication infrastructure con20 struction and security standards to ensure cross-bor21 der telecommunications are secure. 

22 (b) PROJECT SELECTION.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State, the 

24 Chief Executive Officer of the United States Inter25 national Development Finance Corporation, and the 
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1 Director of the Trade and Development Agency shall 

2 jointly identify telecommunication infrastructure 

3 projects that would advance the United States na4 tional security and be appropriate for United States 

5 assistance under this section. 

6 (2) PROJECT ELIGIBILITY.—A project is eligible 

7 for United States assistance under this section if— 

8 (A) the project— 

9 (i) improves telecommunication net10 works through either hard infrastructure, 

11 such as telecommunication lines, towers, 

12 antennas, or other equipment, or soft in13 frastructure, such as innovative software 

14 development or cloud services; 

15 (ii) is inclusive, transparent, economi16 cally viable, financially, environmentally, 

17 and socially sustainable, compliant with 

18 international standards, laws, and regula19 tions, and supplied with secure tele20 communication equipment or services solely 

21 by providers of secure telecommunication 

22 equipment or services; and 

23 (iii) does not use covered tele24 communication equipment or services or 

25 removes covered telecommunication equip-
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1 ment or services and replaces such equip2 ment or services with secure telecommuni3 cation equipment or services; and 

4 (B) the project is located in a covered 

5 country. 

6 (3) PREFERENCE.—In selecting among projects 

7 that are eligible under paragraph (2), the heads of 

8 the Federal departments and agencies specified in 

9 subsection (a) shall give preference to projects 

10 that— 

11 (A) are located in Ukraine; 

12 (B) can attract funding from the private 

13 sector, an international financial institution, the 

14 government of the country in which the project 

15 will be carried out, or the European Commis16 sion; 

17 (C) have been designated as available for 

18 funding through the Three Seas Initiative In19 vestment Fund; 

20 (D) are to be carried out in the Three Seas 

21 Initiative member nations; 

22 (E) are to be carried out in NATO mem23 ber states that meet or are making progress to24 ward meeting their commitments to upholding 

25 the rule of law and preserving democratic insti-
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1 tutions in accordance with the preamble and 

2 Article 2 of the North Atlantic Treaty; 

3 (F) are to be carried out in NATO mem4 ber states that meet or are making demon5 strable progress toward meeting their defense 

6 spending commitments in accordance with the 

7 2014 NATO Wales Summit Declaration; or 

8 (G) have the potential to advance United 

9 States economic interests. 

10 (c) TYPES OF ASSISTANCE.— 

11 (1) DIPLOMATIC AND POLITICAL SUPPORT.— 

12 The Secretary of State shall provide diplomatic and 

13 political support to the covered countries, as nec14 essary, including by using the diplomatic and polit15 ical influence and expertise of the Department of 

16 State to build the capacity of covered countries to 

17 resolve any impediments to the development of 

18 projects selected under subsection (b). 

19 (2) INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

20 SUPPORT.—The Secretary of State shall seek to en21 courage international financial institutions, including 

22 the European Bank for Reconstruction and Develop23 ment, the European Investment Bank, and the 

24 International Monetary Fund, the Foreign, Com25 monwealth, and Development Office of the Govern-
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1 ment of the United Kingdom, the Agency for Inter2 national Cooperation of the Government of Ger3 many, and the Development Agency of the Govern4 ment of France to invest in telecommunication infra5 structure resilience in Central and Eastern Europe. 

6 (3) EARLY-STAGE PROJECT SUPPORT.—The Di7 rector of the Trade and Development Agency shall 

8 provide early-stage project support with respect to 

9 projects selected under subsection (b), as necessary. 

10 (4) LATE-STAGE PROJECT SUPPORT.—The 

11 heads of the Federal departments and agencies spec12 ified in subsection (a) that provide late-stage project 

13 support shall do so, with respect to projects selected 

14 under subsection (b), as necessary. 

15 (5) UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL DEVELOP16 MENT FINANCE CORPORATION SUPPORT.—The 

17 United States International Development Finance 

18 Corporation is authorized to provide support for 

19 projects under this section in covered countries that 

20 are countries with upper-middle-income economies or 

21 high-income economies (as those terms are defined 

22 by the International Bank for Reconstruction and 

23 Development and the International Development As24 sociation (collectively referred to as the ‘‘World 

25 Bank’’)), notwithstanding the restriction contained 
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1 in section 1412(c)(2) of the Better Utilization of In2 vestments Leading to Development Act of 2018 (22 

3 U.S.C. 9612(c)(2)). 

4 SEC. 5. REPORT. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

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

7 for 5 years, the President shall submit to the appropriate 

8 congressional committees a report on the progress made 

9 in providing assistance for projects under section 4 that 

10 includes— 

11 (1) a description of the telecommunications in12 frastructure projects the United States has identi13 fied for such assistance; and 

14 (2) for each such project— 

15 (A) a description of the role of the United 

16 States in the project, including in early-stage 

17 project support and late-stage project support; 

18 (B) the amount and form of debt financ19 ing, equity financing, and insurance provided by 

20 the United States Government, the Three Seas 

21 Initiative Investment Fund, and international 

22 financial institutions, including the European 

23 Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the 

24 European Investment Bank, and the Inter25 national Monetary Fund, the Foreign, Com-
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1 monwealth, and Development Office of the Gov2 ernment of the United Kingdom, the Agency for 

3 International Cooperation of the Government of 

4 Germany, and the Development Agency of the 

5 Government of France for the project; 

6 (C) the contractual terms of the project 

7 that preclude the use of covered telecommuni8 cation equipment or services and steps taken to 

9 ensure providers of telecommunication equip10 ment or services meet such contractual terms; 

11 and 

12 (D) an update on the progress made on 

13 the project as of the date of the report. 

14 (b) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES

15 DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate con16 gressional committees’’ means— 

17 (1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 

18 Committee on Appropriations of the House of Rep19 resentatives; and 

20 (2) the Committee on Foreign Relations and 

21 the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate. 

22 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

23 In this Act: 

24 (1) COVERED COUNTRY.—The term ‘‘covered 

25 country’’ includes— 
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1 (A) any member state of the North Atlan2 tic Treaty Organization that— 

3 (i) shares a border with the Russian 

4 Federation; and 

5 (ii) according to World Bank official 

6 data for 2020, has a Gross Domestic Prod7 uct per capita, adjusted for purchasing 

8 power parity, of less than $45,000; and 

9 (B) any European country that— 

10 (i) has not participated or aided in 

11 Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; and 

12 (ii) according to World Bank official 

13 data for 2020, has a Gross Domestic Prod14 uct per capita, adjusted for purchasing 

15 power parity, of less than $34,000. 

16 (2) COVERED TELECOMMUNICATION EQUIP17 MENT OR SERVICES.—The term ‘‘covered tele18 communication equipment or services’’ means any of 

19 the following: 

20 (A) Telecommunication equipment or serv21 ices produced or provided by Huawei Tech22 nologies Company or ZTE Corporation (or any 

23 subsidiary or affiliate of such entities). 

24 (B) Telecommunication equipment or serv25 ices produced or provided by an entity that the 
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1 Secretary of State, in consultation with the Di2 rector of National Intelligence, reasonably be3 lieves to be an entity owned or controlled by, or 

4 otherwise connected to, the People’s Republic of 

5 China or the Russian Federation. 

6 (3) EARLY-STAGE PROJECT SUPPORT.—The 

7 term ‘‘early-stage project support’’ includes— 

8 (A) feasibility studies; 

9 (B) resource evaluations; 

10 (C) project appraisal and costing; 

11 (D) pilot projects; 

12 (E) commercial support, such as trade 

13 missions, reverse trade missions, technical 

14 workshops, international buyer programs, and 

15 international partner searchers to link suppliers 

16 to projects; 

17 (F) technical assistance and other guid18 ance to improve the local regulatory environ19 ment and market frameworks to encourage 

20 transparent competition and enhance tele21 communication security; and 

22 (G) long-term telecommunication sector 

23 planning. 

24 (4) LATE-STAGE PROJECT SUPPORT.—The term 

25 ‘‘late-stage project support’’ includes debt financing, 
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1 equity financing, insurance, and transaction advisory 

2 services. 

3 (5) SECURE TELECOMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT

4 OR SERVICES.—The term ‘‘secure telecommunication 

5 equipment or services’’ means telecommunication 

6 equipment or services that are not, and do not con7 tain, covered telecommunication equipment or serv8 ices. 

Passed the House of Representatives April 27, 2022. 

Attest: 

Clerk. 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3344 

AN ACT 

To prioritize the efforts of and enhance coordinanetworks, and for other purposes. prove the security of their telecommunications countries in Central and Eastern Europe to im- tion among United States agencies to encourage