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 relat-
ing to telecommunications equipment and services pro-
duced or provided by certain entities, and for other pur-
poses. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Countering Untrusted 
Telecommunications Abroad Act’’. 
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) the national security of the United States is 
affected by the telecommunications security of 
United States allies, partners, and other countries 
around the globe; 
(2) the importance of mobile and internet serv-
ices makes such services tempting and effective tools 
for malign influence and economic coercion; 
(3) Huawei Technologies Company and ZTE 
Corporation (and any subsidiary or affiliate of either 
such entity) should not serve as a vendor of tele-
communications equipment or services given the 
close ties to, and control over, such entities by the 
People’s Republic of China; and 
(4) it is in the economic and national security 
interests of the United States to ensure that coun-
tries around the globe use trusted telecommuni-
cations equipment or services. 
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SEC. 3. REPORT ON UNTRUSTED TELECOMMUNICATIONS 
EQUIPMENT OR SERVICES IN COUNTRIES 
WITH COLLECTIVE DEFENSE AGREEMENT 
WITH UNITED STATES. 
(a) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter for 
two years, the Secretary of State, in consultation with the 
Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and 
Information, shall submit to the Committees on Foreign 
Affairs and Energy and Commerce of the House of Rep-
resentatives and the Committees on Foreign Relations and 
Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate a 
report on the prevalence of untrusted telecommunications 
equipment or services in the networks of United States 
allies and partners. 
(b) MATTERS.—The report under subsection (a) shall 
enumerate each United States ally or partner with respect 
to which the United States has entered into a collective 
defense agreement and include, for each such country, the 
following: 
(1) A description of the presence, or lack there-
of, of untrusted telecommunications equipment or 
services in any 5G network of the country. 
(2) If any untrusted telecommunications equip-
ment or service is present in such a network— 
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(A) an enumeration of any mobile carriers 
that are using the untrusted telecommuni-
cations equipment or service present, and any 
mobile carriers that are not; 
(B) a determination of whether the 
untrusted telecommunications equipment or 
service present is in the core or periphery of the 
network; and 
(C) any plans by the United States ally or 
partner, or the individual mobile carrier, to rip 
and replace the untrusted telecommunications 
equipment or service present with a trusted 
telecommunications equipment or service. 
(3) A description of any plans by network oper-
ators to use untrusted communications equipment or 
services in the deployment of Open Radio Access 
Network (Open RAN) technology, or any successor 
to such technology, or in future 6G networks. 
SEC. 4. REPORT ON COVERED TELECOMMUNICATIONS 
EQUIPMENT OR SERVICES IN UNITED STATES 
EMBASSIES. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) The Comptroller General of the United 
States has reported that 23 percent of all tele-
communications device manufacturers of the Depart-
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ment of State have at least one supplier reported to 
be headquartered in the People’s Republic of China 
or the Russian Federation. 
(2) The Comptroller General has reported that 
four percent of all telecommunications contractors of 
the Department of State have at least one supplier 
reported to be headquartered in the People’s Repub-
lic of China. 
(b) REPORT.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary of State, in consultation with the heads of 
such other departments and agencies as the Sec-
retary determines necessary, shall submit to the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Rep-
resentatives and the Committee on Foreign Rela-
tions of the Senate a report containing an assess-
ment of the use of covered telecommunications 
equipment or services in United States embassies 
and by United States embassy staff and personnel. 
(2) MATTERS.—The report under paragraph 
(1) shall include information on the following: 
(A) The status of the implementation by 
the Secretary of State of the prohibition under 
subsection (a)(1) of section 889 of the John S. 
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McCain National Defense Authorization Act for 
Fiscal Year 2019 (Public Law 115–232; 132 
Stat. 1917; 41 U.S.C. 3901 note prec.) with re-
spect to equipment, systems, and services used 
at United States embassies, including— 
(i) an identification of the United 
States embassies with respect to which the 
Secretary has implemented such prohibi-
tion, and an identification of those with re-
spect to which the Secretary has not imple-
mented such prohibition, if any; 
(ii) an identification of any difficulties 
that have delayed the implementation of 
such prohibition by the Secretary with re-
spect to United States embassies, such as 
visibility into supply chains, costs of equip-
ment replacement, and plans for timely re-
mediation; 
(iii) information on any waivers that 
have been granted to an entity under sub-
section (d) of such section 889 for equip-
ment, systems, or services used at United 
States embassies, including a justification 
of why each waiver was granted and any 
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other information required pursuant to 
paragraph (1)(B) of such subsection; and 
(iv) for any entity that has sought a 
waiver specified in clause (iii), the imple-
mentation status of the phase-out plan of 
the entity submitted by the entity pursuant 
to subsection (d) of such section 889. 
(B) Information regarding the extent to 
which the digital devices of United States em-
bassy staff and personnel are serviced by 
Huawei Technologies Company or ZTE Cor-
poration (or any subsidiary or affiliate of either 
such entity), or any other entity headquartered 
in the People’s Republic of China, and an as-
sessment of the likelihood of the intelligence 
services of the People’s Republic of China gain-
ing access to the contents and data of the dig-
ital devices used by United States embassy per-
sonnel as a result of any such servicing. 
(C) Any other information regarding ongo-
ing efforts to safeguard the communications se-
curity of United States embassies. 
(3) FORM.—The report under paragraph (1) 
shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may in-
clude a classified annex. 
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SEC. 5. SUPPORTING TRUSTED TELECOMMUNICATIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State, in con-
sultation with the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for 
Communications and Information, shall select for the pro-
vision of support under this section telecommunications in-
frastructure projects that have the potential, as deter-
mined by the Secretary, to promote the national security 
of the United States and meet such other requirements 
as the Secretary may prescribe. 
(b) DIPLOMATIC
AND POLITICAL SUPPORT.—The 
Secretary of State shall provide to each project selected 
under subsection (a), as appropriate, diplomatic and polit-
ical support, including by using the diplomatic and polit-
ical influence and expertise of the Department of State 
to build the capacity of countries to resolve any impedi-
ments to the development of the project. 
(c) EARLY STAGE PROJECT SUPPORT.—The Director 
of the United States Trade and Development Agency 
should provide, as appropriate, early-stage project support 
with respect to projects selected under subsection (a). 
SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) COVERED
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
EQUIP-
MENT
OR
SERVICE; UNTRUSTED
TELECOMMUNI-
CATIONS EQUIPMENT OR SERVICE.—The terms ‘‘cov-
ered telecommunications equipment or service’’ and 
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