FCC Probes Continuing U.S. Involvement of Chinese Companies on 'Covered List'
The FCC’s new Council for National Security launched its first “major initiative” last week, sending letters to companies on the FCC’s “covered list,” including Chinese players Huawei and ZTE. The agency sent letters to all companies on the list with ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and at least one subpoena, said a news release. It didn't mention Russia’s Kaspersky, on the list since March 2022 (see 2203250067). The FCC didn’t comment on the omission Friday.
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In a post on X, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr labeled the steps taken a "Chairman Action." The FCC previously found that the companies “pose an unacceptable risk to our national security,” he said. “We want to ensure that they’re not evading our national security protections.” Carr unveiled the internal, multi-bureau national security task force earlier in the week (see 2503130058).
Commissioner Anna Gomez also addressed the issue on X: “I support any step that builds on the successful and bipartisan effort of previous FCC administrations to ensure that companies posing a national security risk are removed from our networks.” The national security push has been bipartisan. The FCC was also active in clamping down on companies that pose a potential risk to the security of U.S. networks under President Joe Biden and during the first Trump administration.
“We have reason to believe that … some or all of these Covered List entities are trying to make an end run around those FCC prohibitions by continuing to do business in America on a private or ‘unregulated’ basis,” Carr said in the release. “We are not going to just look the other way.”
Other companies targeted were Hytera Communications, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology, Dahua Technology, China Mobile International USA, China Telecom (Americas), Pacific Networks and China Unicom (Americas). Carr is a longtime China hawk and visited Taiwan in 2022. “In my view, a free and democratic Taiwan is vital to U.S. economic interest and to our national security interests,” he said at the time.