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As the United States strives to remove China from its communications networks, Jessica Rosenworcel, the outgoing Democratic president of the Federal Communications Commissionsays it is vital for his Republican successor to maintain strong oversight of the telecommunications industry.
The government is still being overwhelmed by the Chinese “Salt Typhoon” Hacking Campaign. which penetrated at least nine US telecommunications companies and gave Beijing access to US phone calls and text messages and wiretapping systems used by law enforcement. The operation exploited the surprisingly poor cybersecurity of US carriers, including an AT&T administrator account which lacked basic security protection.
To prevent a repeat of the unprecedented telecom intrusion, Rosenworcel used the waning days of his FCC leadership to propose new cybersecurity requirements for telecom operators. Thursday, the commission closely voted to approve his proposal. But those rules face a dark future, with President-elect Donald Trump preparing to take office and control of the FCC by handing over to Commissioner Brendan Carr, a Trump ally who voted against Rosenworcel’s regulatory plan.
In an interview days before Trump’s inauguration, Rosenworcel is adamant that regulation is part of the answer to the telecommunications security crisis in America. And he has a stern message for Republicans who think the solution is to let them police the telecoms themselves.
“We have been fighting what has been described as the worst telecommunications hack in our nation’s history,” he says. “Either take serious action or don’t.”
Rosenworcel’s plan it consists of two steps. First, the FCC formally declared that the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) of 1994, which required telecommunications companies to design their telephone and Internet systems to comply with wiretapping, it also requires implementing basic cyber defenses to prevent tampering. Later, the FCC proposed that it requires a wider range of companies regulated by the commission to develop detailed cyber risk management plans and attest annually to their implementation.
The outgoing president described the rules as a common-sense response to a devastating attack.
“In the United States in 2025, it will shock most consumers to learn that our networks do not have minimum cybersecurity standards,” says Rosenworcel. “We ask the carriers to develop a plan and certify that they follow that plan. That’s the right thing to do.”
Without these standards, he adds, “our networks will lack the necessary protection from nation-state threats like this in the future.”
But Republicans are unlikely to embrace the new regulation on telecommunications networks. The powerful telecommunications industry tends to strongly oppose any new regulation, and Republicans almost always side with the industry in these debates.
Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican who now chairs the Commerce Committee, called Rosenworcel’s plan “a gimmick at best and a cover-up of a serious blind spot at worst.” during an audition in December.
Carr – that last month called Salt Typhoon “Deeply troubling” — he voted against Rosenworcel’s proposal, along with fellow Republican commissioner Nathan Simington. Carr’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the new regulations. But he has repeatedly criticized Rosenworcel’s approach to tightening rules on the telecommunications industry, accusing it of overreach and warning that the FCC must hold back or face pushback from the courts.