Countering Untrusted Telecommunications Abroad Act
Bill: H.R.8520 | Sponsor: Rep. Wild, Susan (D-PA)
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Countering Untrusted Telecommunications Abroad Act
This bill requires the Department of State to address the use of untrusted telecommunications equipment (and services). It also requires certain securities issuers to disclose the use of such equipment.
The State Department must provide support, such as diplomatic and political support, for certain telecommunications infrastructure projects that have the potential to promote U.S. national security interests.
Furthermore, a securities issuer that is required to file annual or quarterly reports with the Securities Exchange Commission must periodically disclose whether it used or contracted to use telecommunications equipment deemed by the Federal Communications Commission to pose an unacceptable risk to U.S. national security or the security and safety of U.S. persons. The disclosure must contain certain information, including whether the equipment is being used in a mobile network run by the issuer.
The State Department must report to Congress on (1) the prevalence of such telecommunications equipment in the networks of U.S. allies and partners, and (2) the use of such telecommunications equipment in U.S. embassies and by embassy staff and personnel.

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

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

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 services 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 telecommunications 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 countries around the globe 
        use trusted telecommunications equipment or services.

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 
Representatives 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 thereof, of 
        untrusted telecommunications equipment or services in any 5G 
        network of the country.
            (2) If any untrusted telecommunications equipment or 
        service is present in such a network--
                    (A) an enumeration of any mobile carriers that are 
                using the untrusted telecommunications 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 operators 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 telecommunications device 
        manufacturers of the Department 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 Republic of China.
    (b) Report.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, in 
        consultation with the heads of such other departments and 
        agencies as the Secretary determines necessary, shall submit to 
        the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of 
        Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 
        Senate a report containing an assessment 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. McCain National 
                Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (Public 
                Law 115-232; 132 Stat. 1917; 41 U.S.C. 3901 note prec.) 
                with respect 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 prohibition, and an 
                        identification of those with respect to which 
                        the Secretary has not implemented such 
                        prohibition, if any;
                            (ii) an identification of any difficulties 
                        that have delayed the implementation of such 
                        prohibition by the Secretary with respect to 
                        United States embassies, such as visibility 
                        into supply chains, costs of equipment 
                        replacement, and plans for timely remediation;
                            (iii) information on any waivers that have 
                        been granted to an entity under subsection (d) 
                        of such section 889 for equipment, systems, or 
                        services used at United States embassies, 
                        including a justification of why each waiver 
                        was granted and any 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 
                        implementation 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 embassy staff and 
                personnel are serviced by Huawei Technologies Company 
                or ZTE Corporation (or any subsidiary or affiliate of 
                either such entity), or any other entity headquartered 
                in the People's Republic of China, and an assessment of 
                the likelihood of the intelligence services of the 
                People's Republic of China gaining access to the 
                contents and data of the digital devices used by United 
                States embassy personnel as a result of any such 
                servicing.
                    (C) Any other information regarding ongoing efforts 
                to safeguard the communications security of United 
                States embassies.
            (3) Form.--The report under paragraph (1) shall be 
        submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified 
        annex.

SEC. 5. SUPPORTING TRUSTED TELECOMMUNICATIONS.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of State, in consultation with the 
Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information, 
shall select for the provision of support under this section 
telecommunications infrastructure projects that have the potential, as 
determined 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 political support, including by using the diplomatic and 
political influence and expertise of the Department of State to build 
the capacity of countries to resolve any impediments 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. DISCLOSURE AND TRANSPARENCY OF UNTRUSTED COMMUNICATIONS 
              EQUIPMENT.

    (a) In General.--Section 13 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 
(15 U.S.C. 78m) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
subsection:
    ``(s) Disclosure of Certain Activities Related to Untrusted 
Telecommunications Equipment.--
            ``(1) In general.--Each issuer required to file an annual 
        or quarterly report under subsection (a) shall disclose in that 
        report the information required in paragraph (2) if, during the 
        period covered by the report, the issuer or any affiliate of 
        the issuer used or contracted to use covered telecommunications 
        equipment or services.
            ``(2) Information required.--If an issuer or affiliate of 
        the issuer has engaged in an activity described in paragraph 
        (1), the issuer shall disclose such activity, including a 
        detailed description of--
                    ``(A) whether the covered telecommunications 
                equipment or services are being used in a mobile 
                network run by the issuer, and whether those equipment 
                or services were used in the core or periphery of the 
                network;
                    ``(B) whether the covered telecommunications 
                equipment or services were used for cloud computing or 
                data storage;
                    ``(C) whether any covered telecommunications 
                equipment or services were replaced with other vendors; 
                and
                    ``(D) whether the issuer is currently engaging in 
                negotiations or planning to contract to use additional 
                covered telecommunications equipment or services.
            ``(3) Notice of disclosures.--If an issuer reports under 
        paragraph (1) that the issuer or an affiliate of the issuer has 
        knowingly engaged in any activity described in that paragraph, 
        the issuer shall separately file with the Commission, 
        concurrently with the annual or quarterly report under 
        subsection (a), a notice that the disclosure of that activity 
        has been included in that annual or quarterly report that 
        identifies the issuer and contains the information required by 
        paragraph (2).
            ``(4) Public disclosure of information.--Upon receiving a 
        notice under paragraph (3) that an annual or quarterly report 
        includes a disclosure of an activity described in paragraph 
        (1), the Commission shall promptly--
                    ``(A) transmit the report to--
                            ``(i) the President;
                            ``(ii) the Committees on Foreign Affairs, 
                        Energy and Commerce, and Financial Services of 
                        the House of Representatives; and
                            ``(iii) the Committees on Foreign 
                        Relations, Commerce, Science, and 
                        Transportation, and Banking, Housing, and Urban 
                        Affairs of the Senate; and
                    ``(B) make the information provided in the 
                disclosure and the notice available to the public by 
                posting the information on the Internet website of the 
                Commission.
            ``(5) Covered telecommunications equipment or service 
        defined.--In this subsection, the term `covered 
        telecommunications equipment or service' has the meaning given 
        to the term `covered communications equipment or service' in 
        section 9 of the Secure and Trusted Communications Network Act 
        of 2019 (47 U.S.C. 1608).''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
take effect with respect to reports required to be filed with the 
Securities and Exchange Commission after the date that is 180 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Covered telecommunications equipment or service; 
        untrusted telecommunications equipment or service.--The terms 
        ``covered telecommunications equipment or service'' and 
        ``untrusted telecommunications equipment or service'' have the 
        meaning given to the term ``covered communications equipment or 
        service'' in section 9 of the Secure and Trusted Communications 
        Network Act of 2019 (47 U.S.C. 1608).
            (2) Trusted telecommunications equipment or service.--The 
        term ``trusted telecommunications equipment or service'' means 
        any telecommunications equipment or service that is not a 
        covered telecommunications equipment or service.

            Passed the House of Representatives September 20, 2022.

            Attest:

                                             CHERYL L. JOHNSON,

                                                                 Clerk.

                               By Kevin F. McCumber,

                                                          Deputy Clerk.