The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission announced an effort on Thursday to counter the threat posed by China, continuing what has been a bipartisan focus over the last half decade.
Brendan Carr said the agency would form a Council for National Security, which would be tasked with reducing the U.S. telecommunications industry’s trade and supply chain dependence on China and with countering cyberattacks and foreign surveillance.
Since 2020, the FCC has been reimbursing small telecom companies for the cost of removing equipment supplied by two Chinese manufacturers, Huawei Technologies Company and ZTE Corporation. That program — dubbed “Rip and Replace” — initially received $2 billion from Congress.
President Biden signed a bill in December authorizing an additional $3 billion, which the FCC said was needed to cover the full cost. The additional funds will come from an auction of wireless spectrum.
“Today, the country faces a persistent and constant threat from foreign adversaries, particularly the CCP,” Carr said in a statement. “These bad actors are always exploring ways to breach our networks, devices, and technology ecosystem.”
Carr has previously called for a ban on TikTok, which Congress approved on a bipartisan basis and Biden signed last year. President Trump has held off on enforcing the ban, but a sale deadline is approaching on April 5.
The FCC also maintains a “covered list” of companies that pose an “unacceptable risk” to national security. The Biden administration’s FCC added China Telecom and China Mobile to that list in 2022, barring them from offering service in the U.S.
In a chapter of the Project 2025 plan, Carr argued that the list should be expanded and that China Telecom should be barred from doing an “end run” around the ban.
